LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Science, Art, 



— AND — 



Methods of Teaching; 

— CONTAINING 

Lectures on the Science, Art, and Methods of Educa- 
tion with the Most Practical Modes of Ir)ipari- 
ing Instruction in Eleven Common 
School Branches, 

-b/- 

PROFESSOR DANIEL B. ViLLIAMS, A. M, PH, D, 

Dean of the Collegiate Department, Professor of Ancient Languages, 
and Instructor in Pedagogy in the V. N. & C, I, 

— ALSO — 

Author of "Outlines of School Management," "Freedom and Progress," 
"The Ethiopians — Pioneers in Civilization," Etc., Etc. 

WITH EXTRACTS FROM SKETCHES 

Written by Robert W. Whiting, Esq., John Mitchell, Jr., Professor D. 
W. Davis, and Professor I. G. Penn. 



ISETTISETD 'mI^^ID BIDITIOaiT. 



PETERSBURG, VA, 



•rvH w X ' 



DANIEL B. WILLIAMS, A. M., PH. D., PUBLISHER. 

1893. 
Copyright, 1892, by Daniel B. Williams, A. M., Pli. D. 

t 



LBiOiS 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1SS7. by Professor 

Daniel B. Williams, in the office of the Librarian of Congress 

at Washington. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1887, by Professor 

Daniel B. Williams. A. M.. Ph. D., in the office of the 

Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Printers and Book Binders. 
Petersburg, Va. 



PREFACE. 



After a careful study of the best works on educa- 
tion, and after an extensive experience in instructing 
students and teachers in the principles and methods 
of teaching, I was convinced that a work which would 
present the laws and modes of teaching more definite- 
ly than they are usually presented should be publish- 
ed. This work was mainlj^ undertaken at the solici- 
tation of a number of my students and friends with 
.the intention of placing a useful handbook in the reach 
of the educators of our youth . 

The principles and methods herein discussed and 
•illustrated are in perfect harmony with the teachings 
of the most successful educators of Europe and the 
United States. They have been applied by myself 
with satisfactory results during twelve years of public 
and private school service. 

The success of the work has been such as to warrant 
the expense of a revised edition. A few corrections 
and alterations have been made in the present edition 
which make an improvement on the first publication. 



^CONTENTS.*^^- 



Page. 
Extracts from Sketches 5 

LECTURE I. 
The Science of Education 17 

LECTURE II. 
The Art of Education 40 

LECTURE III. 
Methods of Education 56 

LECTURE IV. 

How to Teach Reading 68 

LECTURE y. 

How to Teach Spelling and Phonics 76 

LECTURE VI. 
How to Teach Arithmetic 82 

LECTURE VII. 

How to Teach Geography 96 

LECTURE VIII. 

How to Teach History 105 

LECTURE IX. 

How to Teach Language, Composition, and Gram- 
mar 114 

LECTURE X. 

How to Teach Writing and Drawing 124 



INTRODUCTION. 



EXTRACTS FROM SKETCHES 

OF THE 

LIFE OF PROFESSOR OAN'L B. WILLIAMS, A. M., Pb. 0. 



"We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not figures on a dial. 

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

I. His Early Life and Education. 

By Pi'ofessor D. Webster Davis, Teacher in the Rich- 
mond Schools. 

PEOFESSOE DANIEL BAECLAY WILLIAMS 
first saw the light of day in the city of Eich- 
mond, Va., November 22, 1861. As a boy he was 
good at ball, bandy, tops, marbles, foot-ball, and won 
fame in swimming. With all this, he was manly and 
above mean and low acts. He passed through the 
common schools of Eichmond, and graduated from 
the Eichmond Normal and High School in 1877 with 
distinguished, honors, having won the gold, medal for 



SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



excellence in scholarship and deportment and a silver 
one for excellence in orthography. 

His teachers having seen the wonderful promise of 
future greatness in him persuaded him to attend 
Worcester Academy, where he was the acknowledged 
leader of his class till his graduation in 1880. He was 
matriculated in Brown University in the summer of 
1880, and, in the fall of the same year, commenced 
to teach in the public schools of Eichmond. He 
taught in the city till June, 1884, and, in the fall of 
1885, taught in the schools of Henrico county. With 
a wonderful tenacity of purpose, he pursued the en- 
tire course of Brown University, which he completed 
in 1885. In the fall of 1885, he was elected as teach- 
er in the V. I^J". & C. I., and, in 1887, he was elected 
Professor of Ancient Languages and Instructor in 
Pedagogy. He is also Dean of the College Depart- 
ment. 

II. As AN Educator. 

By John Mitchell, Jr., Editor of the ^' Planet.^ ^ 

^ ^Professor Williams is a gentleman of learning, 
taste, and sound judgment." — Eev. W. J. Simmons, 
D. D. 

As an educator, Professor Williams has few equals. 
He seems to have a heaven-born gift for the work. 
He has had thirteen years' experience, and has given 
instruction in about all the common school branches 
and high school courses, in several scientific courses, 
in Greek, Latin, French, German, and Hebrew, in 
Plane and Solid Geometry, in Plane and Spherical Trig- 
onometry, and in Surveying. To him is due the cred- 



INTRODUCTION. 



it of building the Method Department of the V. N. 
&C. I. 

A Polished Linguist. 

As a linguist, he occupies a prominent place. He 
reads with ease French, German, Hebrew, Latin, and 
Greek. To him is mostly due the credit of building 
the Latin and Greek Department of the Institute. 
The Latin and Greek courses taught by him are as 
follows: Latin Grammar and Inductive Latin Les- 
sons, Caesar, Cicero, Sallust, Yirgil, Livy, Horace, 
Tacitus, Greek Grammar and Inductive Greek Les- 
sons, Anabasis, N^ew Testament Greek, Homer, So- 
phocles, Demosthenes, Plato, and Modern Greek. He 
has carefully studied the methods of Ascham, Ollen- 
dorf, Eosenthal, Harper, and others, and has devised 
methods of his own, by which he teaches Latin and 
Greek with great ease, and enrobes them in living 
beauty. The chair of Ancient Languages of the V. 
I^. & C. I. is one of the most thorough and practical 
in our colleges. He has taught these languages to 
hundreds of students . 

Extract from Prof. I. Garland Penn, of Lynchburg, Va . 

Professor Williams has the honor of building the 
pedagogical department of the institute. He com- 
menced it in 1885. He has added to it year by year, 
and caused it to rank among the foremost professional 
departments for teachers in the country. He has 
taught his methods to hundreds of students and teach- 
ers, and many teachers feel themselves indebted to 
him for their success. The greatest evidence of the 



8 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



success of his educational work consists in the fact that 
the teachers have reported his methods practical, and 
that they have worked like charms in their school 
rooms. In his department of pedagogy, he is so 
original and scholarly that he begets for himself ad- 
miration from every intelligent mind. His grand 
work in building the Pedagogical Department of the 
V. ]Sr. & C. I. ranks him among the foremost educa- 
tors of the nation. It is a great work. His course of 
instruction covers School Management, Methods of 
Teaching, Philosophy of Education, and History of 
Education. For eight consecutive years he has taught 
the students of the Senior Class of the school and the 
hundreds of teachers who assemble in Petersburg every 
summer. 

Extract from Professor Robert W. Whiting. 

Professor Williams possesses an harmonic mind, 
and is a conqueror in all the fields of learning to which 
he has ever turned his attention. He is a linguist of 
a high order, ranks high as a mathematician, and has 
taught more mathematics than any other colored man 
in the State. Even in the difficult and abstract fields 
of science and philosophy, he is profoundly versed. 
While he is known as a lecturer, orator, and author 
of marked ability, Professor Williams holds himself 
distinctly as an educator. Among the educators of 
the colored people, he occupies a first place, and in 
his departments of Languages and Pedagogy, he has 
few equals and no superior. 

III. As A Writer, Author, and Publisher. 

By Professor I, Garland Perm, Author of '^The Afro- 
American Press and its Editors.'''' 

*• ^Science, art, and Methods of Teaching reflects the 



INTRODUCTION. 9 



classic finish of its author." — Professor E. D. Scott. 
For the last twelve years, Dr. Williams has con- 
contributed numerous articles to leading newspapers 
and magazines. It would be tedious to mention the 
newspapers with which he has had correspondence 
at different times. He has been a constant contribu- 
tor to our leading journals. The readers of the Planet, 
the Freemcm, the Age, the Plaindealer, the A. M. E. 
Beview, and many others have often been delighted 
and benefited by his versatile pen. He is one of the 
few colored writers whose articles have been accepta- 
ble to the editors and readers of white journals. The 
Virginia Journal of Education, the New York Sun, the 
Rome Mission Monthly, and the Index- Appeal of Peters- 
burg, are among the white journals to which he has 
contributed. 

'As an Author. 

He satisfactorily demonstrates the skill and ability 
of the Afro -American in another and comparatively 
new field of labor; viz., that of a book-maker. In 
1883, he sent from the press his ^'The Ethiopians, not 
the Egyptians, Pioneers in Civilization." This little 
work was revised and copyrighted in 1890. In 1885, 
he sent from the press his ^'Why we are Baptists," 
and revised it in 1890. In 1892 he issued his ^^Jeru- 
salem Destroyed" and ^'The Solar System." In 
1891, he published ^'Outlines of School Management" 
and ^'Pestalozzi and Froebel." 

In 1887, he published ^ ^Science, Art, and Methods 
of Teaching." This work crowns him leader. An 
eminent man of letters thus speaks of it : '^This book 



10 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



is used in seven courses of study, is the constant com- 
panion of five hundred or more teachers, and has 
been indorsed by sixty educators and thirty newspa- 
pers. It has been circulated in twenty states and 
Hayti.^' ^ ^Freedom and Progress" is the largest 
and most versatile of any of his works, and was 
sent from the press in 1890. The issue of this work 
is the result of his intense race interest. His origi- 
nal, easy, and ready way of expressing himself in 
print always commands attention. Professor Wil- 
liams possesses wonderful brain power. This book 
has been extensively circulated throughout the na- 
tion. Aside from the above mentioned writings, he 
wrote ^^The Life and Times of Capt. E. A. PauP' in 
1885, '^The Theory of Eev. John Jasper Concerning 
the Sun" in 1884, and the '^Introduction to the Afro- 
American Press." m 

As a Successful Publisher. 

He has not only penned the thoughts comprising 
his books, but he has published and agented them 
successfully beyond a doubt. He assumes every dol- 
lar of expense on his works, and manages by close at- 
tention and perseverance in appointing and regulating 
agents to successfully pay for them and have a margin 
of profit. Scores of students and teachers and others 
in and out of the State have worked for his publica- 
tions among the people, and have earned for them- 
selves good remuneration . Through the channel of his 
books, he has caused hundreds of dollars to flow into 
the pockets of young men and women, and inspired 
many a boy and girl, young man and woman to strive 



INTRODUCTION. 11 



more energetically in the battle of life. Thns lie ben- 
efits his race, and ranks as a benefactor of it. 

IV. As AN Orator. 

By John Mitchell, Jr., Editor of the ^'Flanet.'''' 

^^As an Orator, Professor Williams ranks high.'^ 
Professor D. W. Davis. 

The subject of our sketch has a wide reputation as 
an orator and brilliant conversationalist. For twelve 
years he has delivered orations and lectures and ser- 
mons in different parts of the State. His services are 
frequently in demand at home and abroad. His dis- 
courses are enjoyed alike by the ignorant and the 
scholarly. His method and style are his own. He 
has studied with care the matter and method of an- 
cient and modern orators and selected excellencies 
from them all . The hearer is deeply impressed with the 
earnestness of the Professor . The principle on which he 
discpurses runs through his address with the majesty 
and force of a river, and the matter of his speeches 
is as varied as his learning and scholarship. Since 
his connection with the institute he has taught essay 
and oration writing. He is now the rhetqg^'ical instruc- 
tor of the Demostheno-Websterian Oratorical College 
Class of the V. IST. & C. I. 

Extract from Professor E. W. Wliiting. 

Professor Williams is a brilliant conversationalist 
and an orator of convincing logic. On any subject 
that he discusses, his propositions are clear and his 
words are like bees laden with honey, and dull must 



12 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



be the intellect that does not learn something from this 
river of gold. 

V. His Widespread Keputation. 
By Professor I. Garland Penn. 

^'We bespeak for him an imperishable fame." — Pro- 
fessor D. W. Davis. 

Professor Williams' reputation is not by any means 
confined to State limits, but the nation knows him as 
a scholarly and high-toned gentleman. He is not 
over-rated as some are. An evidence of his popular- 
ity is noted in the fact that a number of our leading 
men have conferred distinguished honors upon him. 
His cut and sketch adorned the columns of the great 
Kew York Sun on May 15, 1887, and those of the 
Cleveland Gazette and Indianapolis Freeman on May 2, 
1889. The late Eev. W.J. Simmons included him in 
his biographical work, ^'Men of Mark," in 1887, and 
It was purely upon the merits of the Professor that I 
included him in my ^^ Afro- American Press" in 1891. 
On November 30, 1889, the Eichmoud Planet pre- 
sented a cut and sketch of him, and in August, 1892, 
the Petersburg Herald likewise honored him. 

^^Poets of America" was published in 1891 by 
Thomas W. Herringshaw. It contains poems from 
only two colored persons in the country, and one of 
them is ^'The Ee volution and Yorktown," by Profes- 
sor Williams. ^ ^Golden Thoughts of American Wri- 
ters" was given to the public in November, 1892, by 
Mr. H. H. Bevis of Cincinnati. He requested Pro- 
fessor Williams early in September to send him an ex- 



INTRODUCTION. 13 



tract from some of his writings. His articles were so 
much admired that he inserted two of them in this 
noted workj one of which is entitled ^^The Benevo- 
lence of Christ." He is the only Colored -American 
writer represented in this noted work. 

On May 19, 1889, Livingstone College conferred on 
him the degree of A. M., and, in May, 1891, Shaw 
University honored him with the degree of Ph. D. 
The following letters speak for themselves : 

'^Salisbury, N. C, June 21, 1889. 
Professor Williams, 

Dear Sir: — 

I take this opportunity to 
officially inform you that Livingstone College, at its 
last commencement on May 19, 1889, conferred on 
you the degree of A. M. 

Eespectfully, E. Moore." 

^^Shaw University, Ealeigh, K. C, 

May 29, 1891. 
Professor B. B. Williams , 

Dear Sir and Brother: — 

This letter will inform 
you that, at the commencement exercises held to-day, 
the degree of Ph. D. was conferred upon you by the 
Faculty and Trustees of Shaw University in conse- 
quence of your scholastic attainments, distinguished 
talent, and ability. 

Yours very truly, 

H. M. TUPPER, President." 
In July, 1892, he was unanimously elected Presi- 



14 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHINO. 



dent of the Virginia Teachers' Association after he 
had filled with consummate ability the position of 
Chairman of the Executive Board for three years. He 
has during the last thirteen years filled a number of 
prominent positions in the State. In November, 
1892, an excellent cut of Dr. Williams appearecl in 
the American Press Association. At the Conference 
of Colored Authors which met on December 28, 1892, 
in Wilmington, N^. C, he was selected to read a paper 
on the ^'Urgent Need of Text-books Prepared by Afro 
American Educators . ' ' 

VI. His Moral and Eeligious Character. 
By Professor I. Garland Fenn. 

^ ^Virtus ariete fortior." ^ ^Virtue is stronger than 
a battering-ram." 

I am reminded that Professor Williams is a Chris- 
tian gentleman of the first water. In all his life, he 
has seldom attempted to do anything of himself inde- 
pendently of God. The Professor will pardon me if I 
publicly expose a sentence or two to which he gave 
utterance in my presence. Said he, '^I try to obey 
the injunction, ^In all thy ways acknowledge Him, 
and He will direct thy paths.' " Again he said, ^'I 
live for God, Heaven, and Eternity. I love my Bace, and 
State, and Natmi. I must benefit my people." These 
ideas constitute the key to his success. He has reach- 
ed manhood without a single blot upon his record 
either as a student or a gentleman. He has never 
forgotten his mother, and he looks to her welfare 
scrupulously. 



INTKODUCTION. 15 



Extract from John Mitchell , Jr. 

Professor Williams is a man of unblemished moral 
character, and scrupulously dutiful to his aged 
mother, for whom he cherishes a most devoted affec- 
tion. Kind-hearted, affable, able. Professor Wil- 
liams is ^^a man among men." It is with no little 
pleasure that we pay this tribute to Virginia's noble 
son — a 3^oung man who has steadily climbed the ladder 
of fame until to-day he can gaze with a serenity that 
comes from a consciousness of success. Having watch- 
ed him in his upward flight, we pause for words with 
which to express our admiration for one who has 
overcome such apparently insurmountable obstacles. 
In the ecstacy of the moment, we find ourselves ex- 
claiming: 

"His life is gentle ; and the elements 
So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, 'This is a man.' " 




LECTURE I. 

THE SCIENCE OF EDUGATION. 



What it is — Physical Education — Intellectual Educa- 
tion — The Primary and Secondary Poivers of the Intellect — 
Moral Education — The Sensihility and Will — How the 
Child should he Trained in Morality and Religion. 



"Mark then the cloven sphere that holds 
All thought in its mysterious folds, 
That feels sensation's faintest thrill, 
And flashes forth the sovereign will ; 
Think on the stormy world that dwells 
Locked in its dim and clustering cells ; 
The lightning gleams of power it sheds 
Along its hollow, glassy threads!" 

jr> DUCATION, in its broadest sense, is a general 
__/ expression that includes the divers ^influences 
/ which operate on a human being* from his birth 
to his grave. The circumstances by which he may be 
surrounded, the nature of the country, the character 
of the family life, the school, church, and society of 
which he is a member, the food which he eats, and the 
water which he drinks constitute a potent factor in 
converting him into a physically strong, intelligent, 
moral, and religious man, or into a physically weak, 
ignorant, and wicked one. 

The interesting study of biography ^'and daily expe- 



18 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



rieiico clearly evince liow differently this comprelien- 
sive training" affects men and women. In some, ^ood 
and noble forces predominate ; in others, wicked and 
vicious ones are the more prominent. This idea of 
education accounts for the treachery of Judas and the 
perfidy of Benedict Arnold, the devotedness of St. 
John and the patriotism of Washington. 

Let us define education in a more specific sense, 
and, especially, in the sense in which it is used in 
connection with school life. It is derived from the 
Latin word cducare (the primitive of which is educere)^ 
and means to draw forth frequently and persistently 
the powers of the being to be trained, so that he be- 
comes sound in body, vigorous in mind, and noble 
in moral character. 

By the science of education, we mean the princi- 
ples and facts derived from the human being which 
furnish rules for the educator's guidance. The being 
to be trained and instructed possesses bodily, mental, 
and moral constitutions. It is essential that the 
teacher thoroughly understand the nature, use, and 
conditions of growth of each. Well did the able and 
scholarly Dr. Youman of Now York say, "A knowl- 
edge of the being to be trained, as it is the basis of 
all intelligent culture, must be the first necessity of 
the teacher." 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

The nature, functions, and means of invigorating the 
body are admirably set forth in the science of Physi- 
ology, with which every instructor should be well ac- 
quainted. Dr. Andrew Combe, in speaking of physical 
culture, says, '*I cannot regard any teacher or parent. 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 19 



as fully and conscientiously qualified for his duties, 
unless he has made himself acquainted with the na- 
ture and general laws of the animal economy." Her- 
bert Spencer, Dr. Youman, Col. Francis Parker, and 
other prominent educators agree that teachers can 
better improve the physical condition of their pupils, 
if they are acquainted with the immutable laws of 
health. 

It is a fundamental principle of the science of edu- 
cation that the mind and body are"intimately connec- 
ted. Upon strength and vigor of body depend, in 
large measure, power and brilliancy of intellect. 
Kousseau truly said, "The weaker the body is, the 
more it commands ; the stronger it is, the better it 
obeys." When the body is deranged, the intellect 
has little inclination to delve into the profound depths 
of science and mathematics, or to soar to the lofty 
heights of linguistry and philosophy ; but, when it is 
sound and healthy, the reason readily grasps the most 
abstruse truths in the fields of science and philoso- 
phy. The teacher must be mindful of the many bless- 
ings attending physical robustness and the multitudi- 
nous ills concomitant upon constitutional weakness. 

The leading thinkers of our age are considering 
the question, "How can the men and women of our 
country be made more robust in body ?" It is an 
acknowledged fact that the women of England and 
Germany are more healthy than those of the United 
States. The reason is evident ; they pay more atten- 
tion to physical culture than we. 

One of the grand results of the laws of Lycurgus 
was, that Sparta could boast of a vigorous and heal- 
thy womanhood, the basis of a strong and courageous 



20 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



nation. Such a womanhood should be the boast and 
glory of America. The great ends of physical cul- 
ture are healthiness and longevity, which are certainly 
worth our toils and painstaking. 

How many young girls of both races ranging from 
the ages of twelve to twenty are affected with neural- 
gia, dyspepsia, catarrh, consumption, and other cor- 
roding diseases! How many of our most brilliant 
and promising young men sink into premature graves ! 
These evils are to be counteracted by the skilled and 
dutiful instructor who must be indefatigable in ward- 
ing off every influence injurious to the scholar. The 
cleanliness of the person of the student, the proper 
ventilation of the room, the posture of the pupil in 
school, his exercise at recess, and other matters apper- 
taining to health should receive due attention. Calis- 
thenics can be easily taught by any live teacher. The 
motto of every thoughtful, progressive teacher is, 
Corpus studiosi doctrinoe conservandum est, (The 
body of the student must be preserved.) 

INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 

The being to be educated possesses a mind as well 
as a body. The word mind is frequently used to de- 
signate the mental constitution ; but, in this lecture, I 
use it as synonymous with soul. The mind, as thus 
defined, is unity in trinity, and may be divided into 
intellect, sensibility, and will. These are the three 
great co-ordinate powers of the human soul. The 
skilled teacher must be able to so train them, that 
they will produce the greatest good to the student 
and the richest blessings to mankind. 

Let us first speak of the intellect which is the know- 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 21 



ing, thinking, reasoning power of the human soul. 
It may be divided into three primary powers, sense, 
consciousness, and reason. Sense is that primary 
power of the intellect, which gives us a knowledge of 
external phenomena. Seeing, hearing, tasting, smell- 
ing, and feeling are termed the five senses. Some 
philosophers, as Haven and Wayland, speak of sense 
under the name of Perceptive Faculties. The educa- 
tor should know how to systematically develop sense, 
or the Perceptive Faculties; for, upon the proper 
training of sense, depends the power of accurate ob- 
servation, — the foundation of all education. 

No doubt, many men had seen apples fall to the 
ground before Sir Isaac Newton; but no one had 
really observed it, that is to say, no one had so deep- 
ly excogitated upon it as to discover the great law of 
gravitation. Newton saw with the eye the falling 
apple ; he then investigated the cause of its fall, and, 
by assiduous observation, revealed to mankind a 
grand truth. Pestalozzi said, "I find that, in recog- 
nizing observation as the absolute basis of all knowl- 
edge, I have established the first and most important 
principle of instruction." 

The pupil must be taught to employ the eye, ear, 
and other organs of sense with accuracy ; he must be 
led to perceive the parts in a whole, the whole in the 
parts, and his attention must be called to a compari- 
son with other like and unlike objects. The scholar 
must not stop at a mere seeing or hearing; he must 
vigorously think upon that to which his attention is 
directed. If the pupil is thus instructed, he is in pos- 
session of the golden key which unlocks the door of 
the palace of all truth 



22 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



Consciousness is that primary power of the intel- 
lect which gives us a knowledge of internal phenom- 
ena. When we reason, think, or remember, we know, 
by the power of consciousness, that we are reasoning, 
thinking, or remembering. Self-Consciousness is that 
function of consciousness which gives the operations 
of consciousness. This power is easily developed by 
reflecting upon our own mental acts. 

Reason is that primary power of the intellect which 
is correlated to absolute, necessary, infinite truth. 
By it, man perceives great scientific, mathematical, 
moral, and religious truths, measures the distances of 
the sun and planets, and reasons with Bacon-like 
power from cause to effect and from effect to cause. 

Socrates, the greatest and noblest teacher prior to 
Christ, by this power, inaugurated a system of phi- 
losophy that has influenced the thought of the world 
to the present day. Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, 
Seneca, Zoroaster, Confucius, Menu, Buddha, Mo- 
hammed, and other great sages and philosophers, by 
the same power, fastened upon mankind great philo_ 
sophic and religious systems. Bacon, by it, saw the 
barrenness of the old Aristotelian philosophy as 
taught at Oxford, and introduced into scientific in- 
vestigation the inductive method of philosophy, the 
soul of which is "utility and progress." 

The progressive instructor must teach the scholar 
the why and wherefore of things, and call his atten- 
tion to truths of science, linguistry, mathematics, phi- 
losophy, and practical life ; he must lead him from 
cause to effect and from effect to cause. Cato, deeply 
convinced of the power of reason displayed in Plato's 
Phiedo, which treats of the immortality of the soul, 



THE SCIENCE OP EDUCATION. 23 



exclaimed, "Plato, thou reasonest well!" The true 
teacher must aim to enable the pupil to reason well. 

Aside from these three primary powers of the in- 
tellect, there are eight secondary ones. They are un- 
derstanding-, judgment, reflection, memory, associa- 
tion, recollection, imagination, and fancy. The un- 
derstanding is the notion forming power of the intel- 
lect." By it, man forms ideas of education, business, 
science, philosophy, religion, and practical life. Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, after profoundly studying the dif- 
ferent systems of warfare employed by the great 
generals of antiquity, formed, by this power, the no- 
tion that the method of fighting originated and prac- 
ticed by the distinguished and patriotic Epaminon- 
das of Thebes was superior to all others. By it Tous- 
saint Louverture, the world's foremost general, was 
inspired by the thought, that Hayti should be free, 
and, by masterly sagacity and wonderful generalship, 
liberated his countrymen from British, Spanish, and 
French tyranny. 

How absolutely necessary it is that we form cor- 
rect notions of men and things! How important it 
is, then, that the teacher should use all diligence in 
assisting the child to have a good understanding! 
The pupil must be taught to form correct thoughts 
on the different studies and lessons given. If this 
faculty is properly developed in youth, manhood 
will experience little difficulty in forming right views 
of life. 

Judgment is the discriminating power of the intel- 
lect, and, on the principle of resemblance and differ- 
ence, is also the classifying power. By this faculty, 
we distinguish good actions from vicious conduct, 



24 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



the superiority of one religious system to another, 
and the differences among the multitudinous things 
of life. By it, we decide on the relative merits of the 
teachings of Yoltaire and Ingersoll and those of 
Christ and Paul, and pronounce Jesus Christ the 
greatest of the world's great teachers. 

The child is very apt to pass over his lessons with- 
out exercising much discrimination ; but the teacher 
should carefully direct the attention of the student to 
the resemblances and differences in the lessons taught. 
For example, in studying U. S. History, the different 
characters, methods, and achievements of different 
generals should be discussed, and the scholar should 
be encouraged to form opinions on the merits of dif- 
ferent leaders. This idea naturally leads to a con- 
sideration of taste, which is that function of judg- 
ment which discerns beauty, symmetry, excellence, 
and propriety in art, conduct, or anything. Taste is 
plainly shown in the sculpture of Edmonia Lewis, the 
poems of Bishop D. A. Paine, the neatly arranged par- 
lor, and the personal adornment of men and women. 
The preceptor can very readily develop this faculty by 
teaching the child to draw beautiful forms and to 
sing sweet songs. His attention should be called to 
whatever is captivating in Nature, or beautiful in art. 
Cleanliness of person, neatness of dress, and the pre- 
servation and orderly arrangement of books and 
slates should be constantly enjoined. 

Reflection is that secondary power of the intellect 
which brings knowledge under the mind's eye and 
holds it there. Contemplation, meditation, musing, 
and ruminating are frequently employed to designate 
it. The world's great thinkers, discoverers, and in- 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 25 



ventors, by the aid of this power, accomplished their 
marvelous and stupendous achievements. When 
Sir Isaac Newton was asked by what means he had 
worked out his great discoveries, he replied, "By 
always thinking on them." Benjamin Banneker, the 
colored philosopher, astronomer, and mathemati- 
cian, enjoyed the most meagre school training. By 
self-instruction and reflection, he published in Phila- 
delphia almanacs for the years 1792-3-4-5. They 
contained tables of the motions of the sun and moon, 
their risings and settings, the different aspects of the 
planets, and the courses of the heavenly bodies. 

The skillful pedagogue must impress the scholar 
with the importance of reflecting on subjects taught. 
One of the most effective methods of accomplishing 
this consists in causing the pupil to carefully write 
out his thoughts on a given subject. The beneficial 
habit of thinking is also gradually acquired by allow- 
ing the scholar sufficient time in answering questions. 

Memory is that secondary power of the intellect 
that holds every principle, fact, and experience. With- 
out it, our knowledge would be forgotten as soon as 
learned, and the experiences daily gained would be 
of no service to us. With it, however, our knowledge 
becomes a means of power, and the great truths 
taught by the checkered history of nations may be 
securely held as helpers and promoters of individual 
and national growth. To what extent it can be de- 
veloped, Locke, Mackintosh, Wayland, and other 
philosophers have never been able to show ; but that 
it is susceptible of a wonderful cultivation, the facts 
of history and experience alike attest. 

We are very well assured that the poems of Ho- 



2(> HOIENOK, Alii' AND MKIMIODS OK 'I'KAdllTNd. 



nior woro transiuiiit^d from }i«::o to a.i::o by tlio unaid- 
Oil powtn* of intMiiory. In l\\o tiino of So(M':it(^s (1(58 
',\\)\) \\. i\),i\\o\o wovo \{\\cn'iiu\ i!;on[\(mion ^y\\o i'onld 
r(>|)(\Mi botli pooms. li was said that Arisitidi»s know 
by nnnu>, ovt^ry ciliziMi of Ailu^iis, and that Oyrua the 
(}n>M.t wa.H woll acHiuaintod witii tn'iM-y man of liis vast 
army. W'hiK^ thi^ n^mnrUnblo momory of those 
nuvn was (^\i't>ptional to tho «;(MiorM.l ruU\ and wliilo 
tho toa(th<M- may not t^xptn^t tliat tho nu>mory of liis 
studonts will (upinl tliat of AristotU^s and ("'yruS; 
n(n(>illioh^ss h(^ shonhl ondiMivor to doo|)on, stroni^th- 
on, and (>\pand it. This ist>asily ai^hiovinl by caiisini;' 
tho scholar to moinoi*izt> tlu^ mnin [>rin('iplos jind facts 
tan.i;ht in his varii)ns stndios, Tlio old [>ractico of 
committini;- ovorythin.i;- rerhatim et literatim should 
not oftiMi bo allowotl ; nor should momoriziuj^ with- 
out roason and judj;inont bo countonanoiMl. 

AssiH'iation is Unit sooontlary powtM- of thointolloot 
whii'h brinj;;s to tho momory similar oxporioncos, 
facts, conditions, and knowKnli^'o wliich havo passed. 
N\ h(Mi i\\o charmim;- and t>loqn{>nt orator dt>piots in 
i^lowini:: hinj^nai;t> tho capturo of Kort Loo in 18()4 by 
[>!i(riotic ami valiant N(\i;"ro troo[)s, association brinies 
to tlu> mt>mory tluMr darini;' d(H>ds at IMillikon's l>ond, 
()lnstt>t>, l\>rt \Va.i;iior, Tort lluilst>n, l'\>rt Harrison, 
and oilu>r plaoos of historic riMiown. 

What a i^lorious j^ift of Doity is this [)ONVor to man ! 
Tjiko all other powers of the human soul, it is sus- 
ceptibl(> of tlu> hi,i;lu>st cultivation. The wise instruc- 
tor of tlu> youth must not be nt\L:'lii::ent in seekinj;- to 
t>xpand and improve it. How easily ahnost any 
teacher of (>ven moderatt^ acquisitions can vlo this! 
Suppose that, in tho study of i:;:eo^nn)hy, the cities, 



'J^IE HCIIKNdE OF EDUCATION. 27 



rivers, mountaiiiH, and othor mattcn'S of iiitorost of 
Yir«^inia hnvo \hh)\\ i;iui;lils Jiiul iliafc tlm child Ih how 
oni^M,^(Ml in tlio wtiidy of Maryland. IN^rhaps, niosfc 
of tlui ciiicH, rivors, and oUuvr niatlc^iH of iuic^ront luivo 
by this iiiiK^ wlippcHl from tho nu^uoiy of tlio child. 
The toaclicr asks him to name the cities of Virginia. 
Now the ])ower of association is appi^alcMl to, Jind it 
brings to the sln^*t;ish nu^iioi-y the Ivnovvhul^cwdiiiost 
lost. In the same manner, tlu^ iianu^ of I'oncu^ De 
Leon will enable the instructor to cause tlui child to 
recall the names and achievements of (/olumbus, the 
Cabot brothers, Cortez, Jialboa, DeSoto, and other 
discoven^rs. 

Kecolloction is that sc^condary power of the intel- 
lect which calls u^) knowhHl«^e almost lost, and holds 
it in the memory. The teacher asks the pupil to name 
the nine ])arts of speech lie names seven, but f;uls 
to recall tlui n^maiiiin*];- two. Now, if h(^ is allowed 
sullicicMit time to think, Ik vmay recall theoth(n-s. I*er- 
ha[)S, th(^ Ixist way to strenj^then and empower recol- 
lection is to f^ive the student sulHcient time to icu'.all 
the re(|uir(Ml knowlcnl^'e which has almost escai)ed 
from his mt^mory. 

Imagination is the ima^'-e formin<;- power of the in- 
tellect, correlated to the ideas of the Ix^autiful, the 
sublime, and the ^dorious. Dante, by this i)ower, 
pictured to himself the terrors and miseries of the 
unfortunate damned, lie ckiarly saw in his mind a 
vast thronjj;' of human beini^-s borne by temi)estu()us 
winds from fiery llames to icy regions, from tropic 
climes to arctic snows. To his fertile ima<j;-i nation, 
some were immersed in mud and mire sullerinf** per- 
l)etual strangulation, while others, arch heretics that 



28 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



they were, were placed with heads down in burn- 
ing pits. 

Edmonia Lewis, the colored American artist, pic- 
tured to her poetic mind Hagar in her despair in the 
wilderness and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Christ 
in her arms and two adoring angels at her feet. By 
her masterly power of genius, she realized in stone 
the sorrowing Hagar and the group of the Madonna, 
the Infant Christ and the angels. Homer, Virgil, 
Chaucer, Spencer, Milton, Shakespeare, Phidias, Mi- 
chael Angelo, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Longfel- 
low, Whittier, Mrs. Frances Ellen Harper, and Phillis 
Wheatley have illustrated to mankind the power, 
beauty, and excellence of the power of imagination. 

Fancy is very closely connected with the imagina- 
tion, for it is that secondary power of the intellect 
which furnishes the materials out of which the imagfi- 
nation makes its images. When the imagination of 
Dante needed materials out of which he could give 
a representation of Hell, fancy supplied them from 
the mythology and history of Greece and Rome, the 
religious beliefs of nations, and the truths of Holy 
Writ. 

There is no faculty of the mind which requires more 
careful cultivation than the imagination. When pro- 
perly regulated, it contributes to the development of 
all that is noble and estimable in our nature. In 
speaking of the importance of cultivating this faculty, 
that eminent educator, T. Tate, in his Philosophy of 
Education, says, "A man deficient in imagination, 
however estimable he may be in his general conduct, 
is usually unsocial, illiberal, and selfish." On the 
other hand, a person with a wild, misguided imagi- 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 29 



nation occupies his mind in the pursuit of idle dreams 
and delusions to the neglect of all those pursuits 
which are calculated to ennoble a rational being. The 
imagination should always be kept under the control 
of reason. The picture method of teaching is one of 
the best means of developing the imagination of the 
child. Pieces of poetry, prose composition of taste 
and feeling, fables, and simple tales are excellent 
agencies in cultivating it. 

In the cultivation of the intellectual faculties — pri- 
mary and secondary, — the instructor should not seek 
to develop one at the expense of the others ; all should 
be systematically and harmoniously trained. It must 
not be inferred from what has been said, that, when 
one of these faculties is at work, the others are at 
rest. Often all seem to be acting at once, and it is 
difficult to conceive of one acting without the assist- 
ance of some of the others. 

MORAL EDUCATION. 

Let us now consider the two remaining co-ordinate 
powers of the human soul, — sensibility and will. The 
sensibility is the great feeling power of the human 
soul. It is the seat of all appetites, emotions, affec- 
tions, and desires. How diverse are the longings, 
ambitions, wants, and cravings of mankind! These 
multitudinous and ever-recurring desires, longings, 
and ambitions, are the motive power of the world's 
]3rogress and civilization. But the selfish wishes and 
the base-born passions of men and women have often 
retarded the advancement of the world. 

The wish to deprive men of life and liberty, to op- 
press the poor, to enslave the helpless and the igno- 



30 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



rant, to heap ignominy, insult, and disgrace upon the 
weak has crushed the bright hopes of teeming myri- 
ads, bHghted the brilHant prospects of the world's 
benefactors, drunk the righteous blood of a host of 
martyrs, and converted joy, love, and happiness into 
woe, hate, and misery. The high and heavenly aspi- 
ration to preserve life, liberty, and property, to libe- 
rate the enslaved, to elevate the poor, to protect the 
weak has put greater value on human life and prop- 
erty, released the oppressed bondman, freed the con- 
science, advanced humanity in art, science, and 
civilization, brightened our homes, and augmented 
our joys. 

Look at the great and illustrious leaders of the 
World's great anti-slavery movement! See Wilber- 
force, Pitt, and Burke pleading in matchless elo- 
quence, unanswerable logic, and wondrous power the 
cause of the oppressed! Behold brilliant Phillips, 
earnest Garrison, bold Samuel E. Ward, eloquent 
Douglass, scholarly Langston, with fearless John 
Brown, brave Lovejoy, and silver-tongued Sumner 
suffering ostracism, making sacrifices, and braving 
death for ignorant, helpless, bleeding slaves ! When 
these and other noble men of pure and tender sensi- 
bility saw the absolute and relative rights of man ut- 
terly violated and ignored, they were so moved in the 
depths of their souls, that they were compelled to 
cry aloud against the oppressor and to demand the 
immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery. 

What a great and serious undertaking the educator 
assumes ! The sensibility of the student must be so 
directed that his wishes are high and noble, his aspi- 
rations pure and heavenly. He must be taught the 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 31 



ennobling influence of the principles embodied in 
the following words of George Herbert : 

"Pitch they behavior low, thy projects high ; 

So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be. 
Sink not in spirit ; who aimeth at the sky 

Shoots higher much than he that means a tree." 

The distinguished Disraeli truthfully said, "The 
youth who does not look up will look down, and the 
spirit that does not soar is destined, perhaps, to grov- 
el." It is the plain duty of the instructor to cause 
the youth to look up, so that his spirit will "soar" 
and not "grovel." The child must be taught to love 
truths justice, benevolence, humility, patience, and 
self-control. He should be so taught, that he volun- 
tarily chooses to realize in life the fruits of noble 
thoughts and aspirations. This brings us to a con- 
sideration of the third and last co-ordinate power of 
the human soul. 

The will is the purposing, choosing power of the 
human soul. It always acts in view of some motive. 
Anything, a fact an experience, a consideration, a 
mental condition affecting the intellect or sensibility 
may constitute a motive. The will has the power to 
originate its own motive. 

While the activities and operations of the intellect 
and sensibility are governed by the law of necessity, 
the will is free to act, or not to act in the line of a 
given motive. When we gaze upon the beauties of 
creation, our minds of necessity think of what we see 
and our sensibility is more or less affected. We 
behold that matchless exhibition of Divine power, — 
Niagara. We strive not to think of it and not to be 



32 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



moved by it, but we cannot help ourselves. But how 
differently the great executive power in man, the will 
is affected ! Our wise and beneficent Creator deter- 
mined that our volitions and executive acts should 
be governed by what may be designated the law of 
freedom. 

Here, then, is the real seat of character. Character 
is what a person really is : in a psychologic sense, it 
is the submission of the will to some particular mo- 
tive whether it be good or bad. Where there is no 
freedom, there can be no responsibility, and where 
there is no responsibility, there can be no real char- 
acter. The seat of character in mankind is found 
neither in the intellect, nor sensibility ; for they are 
directed in their activities by the law of necessity. 
It can be found in the will only, as it alone is free 
to act. 

By this power, men choose virtue or vice, truth or 
falsehood, God or Satan. By it, men freely deter- 
mine and choose what will be their over-shadowing 
purpose, or ultimate intention in life. Many of the 
great philosophers and religious teachers of the 
world chose as their over-shadowing purpose the im- 
partation of truth, virtue, morality, and religion to 
mankind. They all, with few exceptions, greatly ben- 
efited the people of their times and deserve the high- 
est praise. 

Socrates, the grandest and most self-sacrificing phi- 
losopher of aesthetic and cultured Greece, purposed 
to employ his time and efforts in the discovery of 
truth with the noble intention of benefiting people in 
their every day life. The despiser of vice, the enemy 
of injustice, he zealously labored for the inculcation 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 33 



of pure principles of virtuous thinking and virtu- 
ous living. He did not agree with the canting hy- 
pocrites and the philosophic mountebanks of his age, 
and was unjustly put to death. Though dead, he 
speaks; and his memory is redolent with the sweet 
scented perfume of integrity and truth. Who can 
estimate the good achieved through the manly sacri- 
fices and toils of Menu, Buddha, Confucius, Pythag- 
oras, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Seneca, Zoroaster, and 
Bacon? 

Let us look at the greatest of the world's great re- 
ligious teachers— Jesus Christ. His mission to man- 
kind was to save them from the curse and penalty of 
violated law. Between a holy, righteous God and 
unholy, sinful man there could exist no fellowship. 
He came to earth to reconcile man to his God by 
making for him an atoning sacrifice. He spoke to 
the people as man never spoke ; for he declared new 
doctrines concerning God, the immortality of the 
soul, the will of God concerning men, and the duties 
of men to God and to each other. 

He lived a life of self-sacrificing devotion to man 
and holy rectitude. He alleviated the sick, and gave 
the balm of joy to the disconsolate and the distress- 
ed. He was hated and feared by the self-styled re- 
ligionists and the canting infidels of his time, and, on 
a false charge, was nailed to a wooden cross. The 
master of death, he burst the strong bonds of the 
grave, appeared for forty days among men, and, at 
last, triumphantly ascended to Heaven. He left to 
the world a philosophic system of holy truth which 
regenerates the life, ennobles mankind, purifies gov- 
ernments, erects our grand institutions, and advances 



34 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



our civilization. His grand, absorbing purpose was 
to save men from the evils of life and the curses of 
eternity. 

How differently the will manifests itself in the lives 
and teachings of the world's noted infidels and athe- 
ists! Celsus and Porphyry, the zealous antagonists 
of the early church, Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire of 
France, Bolingbroke, Gibbon, and Hume of England, 
Paine and Ingersoll of America exerted their utmost 
endeavors to the demolition of the sacred temple of 
Christianity. Gladly would they deprive mankind 
of the greatest comfort in life and the surest hope in 
death. Their doctrines, when once received, lead 
only to darkness, despair, and the grave. At death, 
most of their blind followers virtually declare with 
infidelic Hobbs, "I am about to take a leap in the 
dark." Their overshowing purpose was to destroy 
faith in a personal God or Saviour, the immortality 
of the soul, and the final accountability of man to 
God. 

The world's traitors, robbers, assassins, and wicked 
persons of every description submitted their wills in 
the past and submit them in the present to the choice 
of vice, corruption, and sin, while the reformers, ben- 
efactors and true builders of humanity chose and 
choose as their ultimate intention the worship of 
God and the elevation of their fellow-men. 

What a wonderful power is the will which holds in 
its grasp the possibilities of a virtuous or vicious life 
with all their resulting blessings and miseries ! What 
a great and important work for the teacher, whose 
duty and privilege it is to so control and direct this 
choosing power of the student, that he prefers virtu- 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 35 



ous to vicious conduct ! The proper development of 
the moral nature of the child is of transcendent im- 
portance. His feelings, desires, and will are to be 
guided and directed. All these forces must be so 
regulated by the teacher, that the pupil grows up the 
happy possessor of a noble character. Col. Francis 
W. Parker well said, ''No matter how much educa- 
tors may differ in regard to the means and method of 
teaching, upon one point there is substantial agree- 
ment; viz., that the end and aim of all education is 
the development of character." Let us make a few 
suggestions as to how this may be the most easily 
and effectively done. 

First, the child should be taught concerning the 
existence, the nature, and the dealings of God with 
man. To suppose that the child is incapable of re- 
ceiving any idea of God's existence or nature is op- 
posed to the lessons of experience. Scores of faithful 
Christian, day-school and Sunday-schoolteachers, du- 
tiful pastors, and loving mothers attest that children at 
a very tender age exhibit reverence and respect for 
their Heavenly Father. Solomon was fully cogni- 
zant of this great truth when he wisely wrote in the 
6th verse of the 22nd chapter of Proverbs, "Train up 
a child in the way he should go : and when he is old, 
he will not depart from it." That distinguished Eng- 
lish educator, Mr. T. Tate, says, "Away with those 
false metaphysics which would persuade us that the 
idea of God is too subtle for the mind of a child." 
The child readily understands something concern- 
ing God's love, mercy, goodness, truthfulness, and 
power. 

Secondly, the teacher must let him understand that 



36 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



God has not left himself without a witness in our be- 
ing, and that every person has a conscience. ^^Con- 
scientia est ilia functio rationis adjuncta notionibiis 
juris et injurice, approhans quid estjustum et prohih- 
ens quid inalum est'' The translation of this defini- 
tion of conscience is, Conscience is that function of 
reason correlated to the ideas of right and wrong, ap- 
proving what is right and prohibiting what is wrong. 
The child must be made to know that it is the ^'vox 
Dei in nobis I' "the voice of God in us." The schol- 
arly Byron strongly expressed this idea in this beau- 
tiful stanza : 

"Yet still there whispers the Small Voice within, 
Heard through Gain's silence and o'er Glory's din; 
Whatever creed be taught or land be trod, 
Man's Conscience is the oracle of God." 

Dr. Francis Wayland, the renowned moral philoso- 
pher, in speaking of this faculty says, "Conscience 
follows the general law by which the improvement of 
all our other faculties is regulated. It is strengthen- 
ed by use ; it is impaired by disuse." It is improved 
by obeying its dictates and hearkening to its impulses. 
The child should be taught to cultivate the habit of 
deciding whether an action is right or wrong before 
it is done and of obeying the monitions of his con- 
science. He should also learn the importance of re- 
flecting upon an action and the intention with which 
it was performed, after it has been done. He must 
be taught and impressed with the truth embodied in 
the following beautiful stanza, that, if he obeys his 
conscience, he will be happy ; if he disobeys it, he 
will be unhappy : 



THE SCIENCE OP EDUCATION. 37 



"Oh! Conscience! Conscience! Man's most faithful friend, 
Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend; 
But if he will thy friendly checks forego, 
Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe." 

Thirdly, every child should be thoroughly instruct- 
ed in the Ten Commandments. They constitute the 
foundation of God's moral universe. Coming from 
God, they are holy and just, and unmistakably teach 
our duty to God and our duty to our fellow-men. 
They are the basis of the organic law of all nations 
and the rock on which all legislative and municipal 
enactments and laws rest. Their observance insures 
individual and national prosperity while their viola- 
tion is a sure precursor of individual and national 
decay. 

The instructor should systematically explain them 
and see that the child commits them to memory and 
understands them. When cases of lying, stealing, 
swearing, and infringement on the rights of others 
occur, the teacher should endeavor to impress the 
pupils with the evils arising from such. He must be 
taught to do good, because it is pleasing to God, and 
to avoid evil, because it is displep,sing to his Heaven- 
ly Father and injurious to himself. 

Fourthly, children should be taught the life, char- 
acter, and work of Jesus Christ. Of all the revela- 
tions made by God to man from the earliest ages to 
the present day, the fullest and greatest was that 
made through the Savior of the world. He united 
in his wonderful personage the dual nature of man 
and God. His teachings concerning God, the soul, 
and his own mission should be inculcated into the 
mind of every child. The pupil should be so taught, 



38 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



that he will accept Him as a personal Saviour, and 
seek to obey his commandments. 

Certainly, a school teacher should make no apology 
for teaching the greatest of all religious systems, — 
the system which founded, prospered," and preserved 
our beautiful country, and has benefited mankind in 
every age and in every clime. Gen. George A. Sher- 
idan, in an able lecture delivered on the 30th of March, 
1887, in the city of Washington in opposition to the 
infidelic teachings of Col. Robt. Ingersoll, said, "The 
history of America is simply a grand poem sounding 
in immortal numbers the praises of Christianity. 
The country was discovered by Christians, settled by 
Christians, Christians declared its independence, 
fought the battles which established it, formed the 
institutions under which we live, destroyed human 
slavery in our borders, established our schools, uni- 
versities, and hospitals." 

Col. Ingersoll and his infidel followers may clamor 
against the use of the Holy Bible and the practice of 
praying in schools, but the grand results which come 
from the Bible and prayer, as observed in the lives of 
men and women, attest, at once, the ignorance and 
folly of infidels and infidelity. The many occurrences 
of life clearly demonstrate that the surest basis of a 
noble and pure life is found in the religion of Christ. 

It is true that many make loud protestations of 
Christian faith, and, at the same time, are the zealous 
devotees of wrong and crime ; but by far the greater 
number of law-abiding citizens, faithful husbands, 
devoted wives, honest merchants, and true friends of 
almost every community are found among the follow- 
ers of the Savior. 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION. 39 



There is no true, permanent morality for mankind 
apart from the soul-inspiring* teachings of Revela- 
tion ; and the best and surest basis on which the mor- 
ality of the child can be built is found in our holy 
religion. A great English educator well and truth- 
fully said, "There is no sure anchor for the human 
soul but that infantile faith in the love and goodness 
of God, which exhibits itself in the following forms : 
faith in God's providence, faith in his promises, as 
revealed in his Holy Word ; faith in his son Jesus 
Christ for salvation." 

Fifthly, the teacher should educate the moral fac- 
ulties of the student by the inspiring example of a 
holy life. His deeds and conversation should be the 
living embodiment of his precepts. The teacher, 
whether male or female, should, at least, be a person 
of sound moral character; that is, a believer in a per- 
sonal responsibility to God and in the importance of 
obeying the Ten Commandments. But the teacher 
is so much more valuable to the community and the 
State when he is a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. 
Many people suppose that intellectual training and 
moral culture are separate and distinct, but they are 
greatly mistaken ; for all acts and attitudes of the in- 
structor, all that he does or says develop moral or 
immoral tendencies. 

To meet the grave responsibilities of his work, he 
should bring to it the powerful influence of a virtuous 
and Godly life. He should ever hold before his 
mind, in the broadest sense, the principle expressed 
in the following words of Shakespeare : 

"This above all, To thine own self be true ; 
And it must follow as the night the day, 
Thou cans't not then be false to any man." 

To efficiently equip himself for his responsible and 
arduous task, he should study profoundly Psychol- 
ogy, Moral Philosophy, Logic, the Holy Scriptures, 
and Human Nature. 



LECTURE II. 

THEARIORPRAGTIGEOFEDDGATION. 



What is Meant by the Art of Teaching — The Scholar is 
his Own Best Teacher — The Teacher is his Guide and Di- 
rector — The Testimony of Arnold, MarJcby, Stuart and 
Rousseau — The Great RcKidts of the True Art of Teach- 
ing — Hotv the Child Should be Taught. 



"All the best cultivation of the child's mind is obtained 
by the child's own exertions, and the master's success may- 
be measured by the degree in which he can bring his schol- 
ars to make such exertions absolutely without aid." — Dr. 
Temple. 

The Art of Education involves all the means by 
which an educator brings his influence to bear on a 
pupil and embraces school organization, discipline, 
the regulation of studies, and actual teaching. Let 
us be careful to distinguish between Science and Art. 
Science tells us what a thing is and why it is what 
it is; it deals with the great laws of the thing. Art 
obtains its rules from the knowledge of the thing, and 
directs us to do this and that with the thing to accom- 
plish our end. 

The Science of Education informs us that the mind 
and body are very closely connected; when one is en- 
feebled, the other is injured. The Art of Education 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 41 

furnishes from this great principle the rule, that the 
educator, in imparting instruction, should not do it 
to the injury of the physical constitution. In this 
lecture we do not propose to speak of all that is in- 
cluded in the Art, or Practice of Education, but we 
shall consider it as another term for teaching and 
school discipline. 

The true aim of the Practice of Teaching should 
be to enable the pupil to teach himself and to think 
for himself. In the impartation of instruction, the 
learner and instructor are conjointly engaged. The 
student possesses an intellectual and a moral nature 
by which he assimilates the knowledge imparted. 
The teacher can no more obtain discipline and knowl- 
edge for him than he can eat, drink, or sleep for him. 
The learner, by the exercise of his own sense, reason, 
judgment, reflection, imagination, and other faculties, 
develops into a sound, intellectual and moral being. 
It follows from what has been said that the scholar 
is his own teacher, and that learning is self-teaching. 
The experience of mankind shows that pupils would 
not generally seek to educate themselves without the 
assistance of a teacher, and that, if they should at- 
tempt it, they would not carry it to a successful issue. 
Hence the teacher's part in the process of instruction 
is that of a guide, director, or supervisor of the ope- 
rations by which the pupil teaches himself. 

Before the child comes under the control of the pro- 
fessed teacher, he has learned the use of his senses, 
knows the elements of his mother tongue and some- 
thing about the different objects seen. How has he 
been taught by these natural circumstances which we 



42 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



may call Nature*? l^ature furnishes knowledge by 
object-lessons which consist of the sky, trees, flowers, 
animals, rivers, people, and other objects. She 
strengthens the legs, artas, and body by causing them 
to be exercised, and she acts analogously in regard to 
mental and moral training. She teaches quietly and 
leaves him to correct his own blunders. She allows 
him to experience the consequences of his own ac- 
tions. These are the leading features of Nature's 
teaching, and they are consistent with the assumption 
that the pupil, throughout her course of instruction, is 
teaching himself. 

There is no necessity for copious explanations to the 
child, provided the teacher knows how to direct him. 
The multitude of directions, exhortations, warnings, 
and explanations given by the unwise instructor often 
bewilder and enfeeble instead of strengthening the 
scholar. Nature seems to direct her pupils to find 
out things for themselves. Explanations are some- 
times necessary and beneficial; for there may be some- 
thing connected with the study which the pupil can- 
not possibly discover by his unaided efforts; but the 
teacher should never explain to the pupil what he can 
find out for himself with reasonable labor. Rous- 
seau, in his interesting and somewhat romantic Emile, 
gives the following opinion on this subject: ^^I do 
not at all admire explanatory discourses; young peo- 
ple give little attention and never retain them . Things ! 
things! I can never enough repeat it, that we make 
words of too much consequence." 

It maybe well to state here that Nature's teaching, 
though, in general, it is the archetype of the educa- 



THE AKT, OR PRACTICE OF TEACHING. 43 



tor's, has some defects which are to be remedied by 
the instructor. 

(1.) Her teaching is not systematic; for she gives 
lessons in science, number, language, and morality all 
together. Her main work seems to be the training of 
faculty. We should imitate her in regard to the de- 
velopment of faculty, but should insist upon an or- 
derly acquisition of knowledge. 

(2.) Her teaching is sometimes inexact. This arises 
from the imperfections of her pupils. If the child is 
born with a diseased brain, Nature makes little or 
no improvement upon it. The educator must seek to 
improve on her labors. 

(3.) Her instruction is too constantly repeated; for 
the pupil meets the same circumstances and objects 
almost daily. The instructor must repeat his teach- 
ings but not to an excess. 

(4.) She accustoms her pupils to little generaliza- 
tion. The educator must incite the student to gen- 
eralize on a larger scale. 

(5.) N^ature is inflexible in her discipline. Ignor- 
ance furnishes no excuse with her. The innocent of- 
fender suffers the evil consequences of his actions. 
The instructor must exercise sympathy with the offen- 
der, and give him opportunity for repentance. 

In the light of the excellences and blemishes of Na- 
ture's teachings, we see the force of the old maxim, 
^^Art improves Nature," and of the declaration of 
Lord Bacon, ^^Ars est homo additus Naturce^''^ — ^'Art is 
man added to Nature." Hence, we are justified in 
the statement, that the Art of Teaching is the appli- 



44 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



cation by the instructor of the laws of science, which 
are discovered by investigating Nature. 

I shall now attempt to illustrate my subject by pre- 
senting two specimens of the Art of Teaching. In 
the first, the teacher fully recognizes the competency 
of the pupils to instruct themselves, and gives them 
the least explanation possible. In the second in- 
stance, the instructor proceeds on the assumption that 
the pupil's success depends more on what is done for 
him than on what he does for himself. 

The teacher is just beginning to teach children 
Geography. He conducts the class out into the school- 
ground, and calls their attention to the Earth on which 
they stand. He takes them to the bank of the bab- 
bling brook or the rolling river, and walks, in com- 
pany with his gleeful scholars, through a valley orna- 
mented with sweet-scented flowers and grasses. They 
climb the steepy hill, and drink from a gushing 
spring. The busy minds of the children are con- 
stantly observing and thinking upon the various ob- 
jects seen. 

When they are again assembled in the school -room, 
the preceptor tests their knowledge by asking them 
about the surface of the Earth as seen by them, the 
valley, hill, spring, creek, and river observed. After 
the children have obtained a clear idea of the thing, 
the teacher causes them to learn that a hill is land a 
little higher than the surrounding land, that a spring 
is water rising up out of the ground, that a creek is a 
small stream of water flowing through the land, and 
that a river is a large stream of water flowing through 
the land. 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 45 



The skillful instructor does likewise in teaching an 
island, peninsula, cape, strait, gulf, and other objects 
of Geography. When he cannot conduct the chil- 
dren to see the object to be taught, he gives them an 
illustration of it by drawing it on the blackboard. 

Let us see what is involved in this mode of teach- 
ing. (1.) We notice that the scholars begin with con- 
crete, tangible facts which they can comprehend, not 
with abstract principles which they cannot under- 
stand. They see the valley, hill, spring, river, island, 
and other natural objects, draw their own conclusions 
concerning them, and healthfully exercise their senses, 
their observation, their judgment, and other faculties. 

(2.) In thus teaching themselves, they employ the 
analytic method in noticing the details of the objects 
seen; they also use the synthetic in attempting to tell 
their teacher what they saw. 

(3.) They gain mental power by this exercise, and 
find pleasure in the observations and discoveries made 
by themselves. 

(4.) In teaching themselves by seeing the things 
and not by attempting to learn the burdensome expla- 
nations of the teacher, their knowledge will be, for 
the most part, clear and accurate, because it is gained 
by their own powers. 

(5.) From this method they are on their way to ac- 
quire the method of investigating and discovering 
things for themselves, by which they gain the habit 
of mental self-direction and self-power, the real end 
of education. 

Let us now note the other case. The instructor 
aims to instruct a class in Geography by means of 



46 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



definitions before thinf^s, pvineiples before facts. He 
proceeds about as follows: The surface of the Earth 
is made uj) of land and water. The children are ex- 
pected to repeat this after the teacher and commit it 
to memory. He gives other definitions as the follow- 
ing: A valley is low land between high land. A hill 
is land higher than the surrounding land. A spring 
is water rising up out of the ground. A creek is a 
small stream of water flowing through the land. A 
river is a large stream of water flowing through the 
land. An island is laud entirely surrounded by water. 
A cape is a point of land projecting into the water. 

He seeks to impress the little ones with these tink- 
ling-cymbal and sounding-brass definitions. They, 
having never seen the things of which he speaks, and 
having no clear conception of them from an accurate 
drawing on a black-board, manifest but little atten- 
tion to the lessons. Their mental faculties are not 
elicited, and they strain the memory in trying to an- 
swer what to them is partly Greek or Spherical Trig- 
onometry. I'heir knowledge of the svd)ject is far from 
being accurate, and they have no opportunity of in- 
vestigating and discovering for themselves. 

This teacher seems to proceed on the erroneous 
principle that everything must be served up for the 
student in the form of abstract definitions. He may 
be a person of earnestness, industry, and knowknlge, 
but he is certainly ignorant of the Art of Education. 
Hence, I repeat that the real aim of a true Art of 
Teaching is to enable the pupil to teach himself and 
to think for himself. The teacher who secures this 
result is an efficient artist in his profession. 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 47 



This important principle is recognized in the prac- 
tice of the most successful teachers . Such teach ers gen - 
erally say little during the time of a recitation, but al- 
low the pupils the opportunity of displaying their own 
knowledge of the subject. The great English teacher, 
Dr. Arnold, scarcely ever gave an explanation, and 
Mr. Matthew Arnold, his son, tells us that such is the 
rAethod employed by the best teachers of Germany. 
The eminent Markby said, ^^To teach boys how to in- 
struct themselves — that, after all, is the end of school 
work . ' ' James Stuart sensibly declared, ^ 'The obj ect of 
all education is to teach people to think for themselves . ' ' 
Listen to the strong testimony of the philosopher, Rous- 
seau, on the importance of self -teaching: ' 'Obliged to 
learn by himself, the pupil makes use of his own reason 
and not that of others. From the continual exercise of 
the pupils own understanding will result a vigor of 
mind like that which one gives the body by labor and 
fatigue. Another advantage resulting from this 
method is^ that we do not accustom ourselves to a 
servile submission to the authority of others."' 

In giving instruction to children in the common - 
school branches, I always aimed to enable them to 
think for themselves on the subjects taught while I 
gave them the least possible explanation. I have of- 
ten been surprised at the progress made by this meth- 
od by even the dull and sluggish of the school. I 
always imbue my students in Languages, Math- 
ematics, Science, and Philosophy with the idea 
that they must depend more upon themselves than 
upon me, that they must be their own self- teach ers, 
and that they must expect me to direct and superin- 



48 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



tend them in the pnrsnit of their various branches. 
I have frequently witnessed the rapid progress made 
by them in the understanding of their various studies 
when they were thoroughly convinced that they could 
teach themselves by my simple direction. I have ob- 
served, too, how conscious they became of their own 
power, and how often they displayed originality of 
thought in considering intricate problems and diffi'- 
cult questions. 

This method of instruction invariably produces 
thinking students. Their various faculties become 
sound, deep, and accurate, and they become con- 
scious of their own power and capacity. They not 
only gain the important development of mental and 
moral power; but they acquire knowledge itself with 
greater ease, and are enabled to handle it with grace, 
skill, and effect. This is the unanimous testimony of 
Dr. Arnold, Markby, Comenius, Froebel, Parker, 
Payne, and other prominent educators. 

This Art, or Practice of Teaching has produced for 
the most part the world's great philosophers, states- 
men, inventors, doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers, 
authors, business men, and skilled laborers. For 
most of the eminent men who stand prominent among 
the above-mentioned classes of great men were taught 
by their instructors to rely upon themselves in the 
pursuit of learning. When they went forth to en- 
gage in life's battles and to meet life's responsibilities, 
they brought to bear upon the things with which they 
came in contact the immovable power of well -discip- 
lined faculties, sturdy self-reliance, and an indomita- 
ble will. 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 49 



The purpose of this lecture forbids me to minutely 
illustrate the significant fruits of this kind of teach- 
ing; it is sufficient to say that it produces and has 
produced the best thinkers who are the chief benefac- 
tors of mankind. It is not strange, then, that Sir 
Walter Scott said, ^^The best part of every man's ed- 
ucation is that which he gives himself, ' ' and that the 
renowned Gibbon declared, ''Every person has two 
educations, — one which he receives from others, and 
one more important, which he gives himself. ' ' 

How true it is that 

"All is the gift of industry ; whate'er 
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life 
Delightful." 

How can the scholar be so trained by the instruc- 
tor that he becomes his own self-teacher? I answer 
this question by saying that the teacher must pay 
particular regard to the following general principles, 
or axioms of education: 

(1.) Our methods of instruction should be in ac- 
cordance with the natural order and mode of develop- 
ment of the physical, intellectual, and moral faculties 
of the pupils . The faculties of children develop them- 
selves slowly, and are invigorated by being properly 
exercised. On the other hand, they are weakened by 
being overstrained, or by being exercised on subjects 
which do not come within their proper sphere. Hence 
the preceptor should be thoroughly acquainted with 
the physical, mental, and moral laws of the being to 
be educated. 

(2.) In early childhood our subjects of instruction 
should appeal to the senses. The first aim of teach- 



50 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



ing should be the gradual unfolding of the perceptive 
faculties which are the absolute basis of all knowl- 
edge. At this stage of development, a knowledge of 
facts is the proper intellectual food . Objects are distin- 
guished from one another by properties, and a knowl- 
edge of these can only be obtained by sensation and 
perception. The child must see these properties be- 
fore he can have any idea of the object to which they 
belong. 

(3.) The chief aim of primary education is to de- 
velop all the faculties of the child's nature, physical, 
intellectual, and moral. The first ten, or twelve years 
of a child's life are distinctly the period of growth. 
During this time the acquisition of knowledge is sim- 
ply a means for the gradual unfolding of the faculties. 

The development of the faculties of children above 
a certain age should have a due regard to their future 
employment in the present world as well as to their 
future destiny in the world to come. The question 
should not be whether or not the greatest amount of 
technical knowledge has been conveyed in a short 
time; but has every element of intellectual or moral 
vitality which has lain dormant been awakened, and 
has this been attained with a due regard to the future 
pursuits and destiny of the pupil. 

The form needs to.be cultivated, the railway must 
be constructed, houses are to be built, machines are 
to be made and repaired, the labor of civilization must 
be performed. Are classic scholars and abstract math- 
ematicians best qualified for achieving the stupendous 
work of progress and civilization'? No doubt, they 
can assist, but there is much which they cannot do. 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 51 



We want men of skilled labor, thoroughly acquainted 
with our practical sciences and arts. The leading ed- 
ucators of the country are gradually turning their at- 
tention to the industrial training of the youth . They 
are rapidly discovering that they must educate the 
boy and girl with reference to their future employ- 
ment in life. Let us all assist in the good work. 

(4.) The faculties should be unfolded and strength- 
ened in harmony with one another, and no power of 
the mind should be developed at the expense of an- 
other. 

(5.) Our method of teaching must foster self-in- 
struction. The pupil should be encouraged to think 
for himself, and the teacher should not tell him any- 
thing which he is capable of discovering for himself. 
In the course of instruction, the pupil must be re- 
garded not as a passive machine to be moved at our 
will or as a mere recipient of knowledge; but as a 
thinking, voluntary agent capable of gathering and 
originating ideas. 

(6.) Instruction should proceed from the simple to 
the complex. We teach from the simple to the com- 
plex when we explain the particular forms of a gen- 
eral principle before we attempt to explain the gen- 
eral principle itself. We should proceed from the 
known to the unknown, and should teach a subject 
little by little until the whole is taught. What the 
pupil does know becomes a stepping stone to what he 
does not know. 

(7.) Facts should be given before causes, and the 
concrete should be taught before the abstract. We 
should inake use of familiar things and objects to 



52 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



illustrate and explain terms, facts, and principles. 

(8.) Principles as applied to particular cases should 
be given before rules. Eules enable us to attain re- 
sults without the labor of research, and are therefore, 
soon forgotten. The instructor should never teach by 
rules when he can teach by principles, and he should 
not allow the pupil to learn by rote until he under- 
stands the subject matter. The scholar must be im- 
pressed with the idea embodied in the Latin maxim, 
'^Labot^ omnia vincit,^^ ^' Labor conquers all things." 
The labor-saving rule System really conquers nothing. 
Of course a principle itself must be taught from nu- 
merous examples. 

(9.) Instruction should be inculcated orally to chil- 
dren. In fact, all children beginning in the common- 
school branches should be taught by the oral method. 
The teacher must be so well acquainted with the sub- 
jects of Geography, History, Grammar, and other 
studies that he can converse upon them with ease, 
grace, and simplicity. The living voice and the sym- 
pathetic look cause the thoughts and words to pene- 
trate and invigorate the faculties of the child. 

(10.) Children should receive pleasure from in- 
struction. When this is not the case, there is some- 
thing wrong in the mode of teaching or in the subject 
matter taught. In accordance with the immutable 
laws of our Creator, the proper exercise of our phy- 
sical, intellectual, or moral faculties afford us pleas- 
ure. If instruction is imparted in harmony with the 
general principles named, it must afford that pleasure 
which does not enfeeble character, but ennobles and 
invigorates it. 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 53 



(11.) School Discipline, or Government has a di- 
rect bearing npon the effectiveness of the instruction 
given. Every experienced teacher knows that order 
and attention are essential to the progress of the 
scholar in his various studies. A noisy, talking, whis- 
pering school is, without exception, a poorly taught 
and disagreeable one. The following quotation from 
Atterbury respecting government in general is equally 
applicable to the government of the school: ^'Few con- 
sider how much we are indebted to government, be- 
cause few can represent how wrelched mankind would 
be without it." Truly, a school without a proper 
government makes teacher and pupils wretched. 

The direct and immediate object of school govern- 
ment is to secure the obedience, punctuality, and un- 
divided attention of the child. The pupil must form 
the habit of attention, punctuality, obedience, and in- 
dustry. Habits become a second nature which ren- 
der toil easy and the performance of duty pleasant. 
But, after all, the great purpose of school discipline is 
to impart to the child the ability and power to govern 
himself in all the relations, duties, and responsibili- 
ties of life. The important question to the teacher 
is. How can these results be obtained ? 

To secure these great ends, the school must be ruled 
on the principle of love. Can the cultured, neatly- 
dressed teacher love the dirty, ragged child? Chris- 
tianity teaches that he can and should. That filthy, 
uncouth child has physical, intellectual, and moral 
faculties capable of wondrous expansion. Christ, the 
Saviour of mankind, died for him and loves him. 
The principle of love begets love. When the unruly 



54 8CIEN0E, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



child is convinced that the instrnctor loves him, he 
will in return love the teacher. A kind, loving pre- 
ceptor makes a kind, loving, obedient school. Love 
reigns in heaven, and is the dominant power of our 
nature; it should, therefore, pervade the school with 
its holy influences. 

Fear should never be the governing principle of a 
school. It paralyzes the intellect, deadens the aspi- 
rations, blunts the nobler feelings, and makes child- 
ren slavish, deceitful, and hypocritical. Some think 
that it is much easier to maintain order by wielding 
the rod of terror than to rule by reason and moral 
suasion. It is true that fear may sometimes be used 
with telling effect on incorrigible students who are 
callous to the mollifying influences of love, yet it 
should never be the controlling force for managing a 
school . 

Corporal punishment should be the last resort of 
the teacher. It may sometimes tend to check vice, 
but it seldom fosters virtue. Often it is as painful to 
the instructor to exercise corporal punishment as it is 
to the child to receive it. Praise is a better force for 
ruling a child than rebuke. The preceptor should 
visit the parents and secure their co-operation in the 
disciplining of the school. 

If kindness, moral suasion, and the teachings of 
religious principles and actions fail in reclaiming a 
pupil, then the teacher must of necessity have recourse 
to punishment. The scholar must be impressed with 
the facts, that God is the author of law, that order is 
Heaven's first law, and that the law of the school 
must be obeyed. The distinguished Hooker was right 



THE ART, OR PRACTICE OF EDUCATION. 55 



when lie said of law, ^'Kev seat is the bosom of God, 
her voice the harmony of the world, all things in 
Heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as 
feeling her care and the greatest as not exempted 
from her power." 

If the teacher pays due regard to these eleven ax- 
ioms of education, he will enable his pupils to become 
their own self- teachers. They will learn the impor- 
tant principle of thinking, investigating, and discov- 
ering for themselves. In whatever walks of life each 
may labor, he will, with rare exception, achieve the 
injunction of Joubert, ^'Excelle et tu vivras.'^^ '^ Excel 
and you will live." 

Entering upon life's duties and responsibilities he 
will, for the most part, be blessed with the honors 
and joys so beautifully expressed in the following 
lines: 

"His the city's pomp : 
The rural honor his. Whatever adorns 
- The princely dome, the column, or the arch, 
The breathing marbles, or the sculptured gold. 
Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim, 
His tuneful breast enjoys. For him the Spring 
Distils her dews, and from the silken gem 
Its lucid leaves unfolds ; for him the hand 
Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch 
With blooming gold and blushes like the morn. 
Each passing hour sheds tribute from her wings ; 
And still new beauties meet his lonely walk, 
And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze 
Flies o'er the meadow — not a cloud imbibes 
The setting Sun's effulgence — not a strain 
From all the tenants of the warbling shade 
Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake 
Fresh pleasure, unreproved." 



LECTURE III. 

METHODS OF EDDGATION. 



The Importance of Method — IliMory of Method — The 
Five Characteristics of a Good Method — The Inductive, 
Deductive, Interrogative, SimuUa7ieous, Illustrative, Lec- 
ture, and Essay Methods — How the Teacher Should Use 
Them . 



"One of the chief characteristics of a good method consists 
in enabling learners to dispense with the assistance of a 
teacher when they are capable of self-government." — C. 
Marcel. 

By a Method of Education we mean the special 
manner in which a subject is taught. The teacher 
who gives instruction in arithmetic by the use of sticks, 
pebbles, chalk, beans, and other objects displays his 
method, or manner of imparting instruction in that 
branch of mathematics. 

How strange it is that some educators have been 
slow to believe in the importance of method in edu- 
cation! They seem to have supposed that the full 
development of the physical, intellectual, and moral 
natures of man would be attained by fortuitous cir- 
cumstances. They appear to have been ignorant of 
the intrinsic value of method in other pursuits of life. 
The builder, machimst, and painter complete their 
constructions of art by methods, the result of vast ex- 



Methods of education. 57 



perience. There was little method in science in the 
days of Thales, Heraclitus, and Anaximines when 
mankind were made to believe that water, fire, and 
air were the original elements from which everything 
came and into which everything would be finally re- 
solved ; but, when the thoughtful mind of Bacon in- 
troduced the Inductive Method of investigating Na- 
ture, men awoke to a consciousness of the fact that 
they had misinterpreted Nature through ignorance of 
the best manner of studying her. 

Who can peruse "Paradise Lost" of Milton, "Rich- 
ard the Third" of Shakespeare, or Pope's "Essay on 
Man" without detecting system in their structure ? 
Who can read "Demosthenese on the Crown," "Cice- 
ro's Orations," Webster's, Calhoun's, Clay's, Doug- 
lass', Langston's, or Lincoln's speeches without dis- 
covering the mode by which they informed the intel- 
lect, swayed the feelings, and moved the wills of their 
auditors ? 

Must men engaged in the various walks of the in- 
dustrial and professional worlds be forced to make 
use of methods while the instructor who deals with 
the immortal mind and shapes the destiny of a hu- 
man being finds no need of them ? While we may 
admit, to some extent, the doctrine contained in the 
saying, '^Poeta nascihir non fit',' "The poet is born, 
not made," and we may rightly believe that some per- 
sons are born with special aptitude for teaching, and 
make successful teachers without much knowledge of 
methods ; nevertheless we are forced to acknowledge 
that the most distinguished instructors of the world 
have displayed not only, a predilection for teaching 
but also an ardent zeal in the study of methods. 



58 SCIENCE, ARr AND METHODS OJ' TEACHING. 



No man can become a great, successful teacher un- 
less method has become to him a livinj^" reality. All 
that he has read, experienced or seen of the bein^" to 
be educated assumes a great unity, a great law wliich 
imparts to him his method of instruction. 

The history of method in relation to primary edu- 
cation shows tliat mankind from the earliest times 
have been more deeply interested in studying the 
simplest ways of inculcating advanced studies than 
in devising means for teaching children. Aesthetic 
Greece and imperial Rome paid particular attention 
to their schools of philosophy and rhetoric for young 
men, but almost totally neglected primary education. 
They did not scruple to intrust the educational train- 
ing of their children to slaves. During that period of 
intellectual dearth known as the Middle Ages, the 
secluded monk was the recognized educator. Deeply 
interested in the propagation of his peculiar, narrow 
tenets of religion, he had little time and less inclina 
tion to study methods for teaching the little ones. 

The theoretic and profoundly-read scholiasts ex- 
pended their efforts in discussing subjects which had 
little or no bearing on practical life. It is not to be 
expected that men who hoped to solve the mathema- 
tico-theological problem. How many angles can stand 
on the point of a needle ? would have either any spare 
time or extra mental force to consider the best methods 
of developing the faculties of a child. 

Even after the partial dissemination of false veiws 
of government, learning, and religion by the giant 
mind of Martin Luther, a knowledge of the languages, 
logic, and geometry of the ancients was regarded as 
the end of all education. The philosophy of Aristotle, 



METHODS OP EDUCATION. 59 



the giant thinker of Greece, distorted by Duns Sco- 
tus and his visionary followers, was ardently and 
constantly pursued. The memory was overtasked to 
hold useless rubbish while reason, invention, and pro- 
gressive thought were discouraged and throttled. 

The immortal Bacon, convinced of the barrenness 
of this system as taught at Oxford, bade mankind to 
investigate facts before principles. His philosophic 
system embraced the leading principles of primary 
education, but his followers did not seem to recognize 
their importance. The great father of metaphysics, 
the illustrious John Locke, was the first distinguish- 
ed philosopher who recognized that the chief busi_ 
uess of primary education is to gradually unfold the 
faculties of the child. 

He learned by observation that the first ideas of 
children are obtained by sensation, and that the per- 
ceptive faculties should be first cultivated. Locke 
believed in the development of the intellectual and 
moral feelings through the agency of things or sub- 
jects which could be known by the child. The emi- 
nent Eousseau of France became an advocate of this 
principle, and Pestalozzi and Froebel carried it into 
practice. In our own country, Col. Francis W. Par- 
ker ably and successfully applied it in the manage- 
ment of the Quincy Schools which have gained a 
world-wide fame. 

In France, Germany, England, the United States, 
and other enlightened countries, methods of educa- 
tion are growing in dignity and importance. Hun- 
dreds of newspaper articles, pamphlets, and books 
attest the progressive character of the educational re- 
formers of our whirling age. The conservative edu- 



60 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



caters who entertain the opinion that the education 
of the child should be conducted as it was forty years 
ago are gradually losing* prominence in the educa- 
tional world. Educational reformers boldly asseve- 
rate that a system of education should be character- 
ized by utility and progress. They claim that the 
rising youth should be taught things which apper- 
tain to their future pursuits in life. Industrial and 
technological institutions are receiving a great im- 
petus while the best educators are curtailing the study 
of the classics and abstract mathematics. The best 
normal schools of the country are paying particular 
attention to the best methods of educating the child 
and are training young men and women with refer- 
ence to teaching children according to them. 

Let us now consider the essential features of a 
good method of instruction. In the lecture on the 
Art of Education, we aimed to show the pupil's natu- 
ral method of learning. It was argued that the 
scholar is his own self-teacher, and that he must of 
necessity think for himself, if he is to grow to intel- 
lectual manhood. Now that mode of teaching which 
secures the independent thinking of the child is the 
best. Any method which does not incite the pupil 
to think for himself is radically false. 

The characteristics of a good method of teaching 
are suggested by the features of a good method of 
learning. In the preceding lecture, it was shown that 
before the pupil comes under the supervision of the 
professed teacher, he has taught himself his mother 
tongue and something about the various objects seen. 
It was also stated that Nature, or the circumstances 
by which he was surrounded, furnishes lessons by 



METHODS OF EDUCATION. 61 



object lessons, which consist of the sky, trees, flow- 
ers, animals, rivers people, and other objects ; sec- 
ondly, that she strengthens his legs, arms, and men- 
tal faculties by causing them to be exercised ; and, 
thirdly, that he teaches himself and gains his knowl- 
edge by synthesis, and imparts it to others by 
analysis. 

A good method of instruction must possess the lead- 
ing characteristics of the pupil's method of teach- 
ing himself under the guidance of Nature. He must 
be taught the concrete before the abstract, facts be- 
fore principles, principles before rules, things before 
definitions. His own observations, judgment, and 
reasoning must be called into service, and he must 
explore, discover, and investigate for himself. He 
must be directed to use synthesis and analysis in 
gathering and imparting his knowledge. The most 
prominent and successful educators agree that a good 
method of instruction should possess the following 
features. 

(1.) A good method should favor self-teaching. It 
should be so employed as to incite in them the belief 
that they can acquire by assiduous and iDatient work- 
ing whatever men have acquired. 

(2.) A good method should be in accordance with 
Nature. It should be so contrived that it does not 
operate against any physical, intellectual, or moral 
law of the child's nature. 

(3.) A good method should comprise induction and 
deduction, or synthesis and analysis. 

By induction, or synthesis we put the parts of a 
subject together; by deduction, or analysis we take 
them to pieces. By synthesis the learner passes from 



62 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



the known to the unknown. In a rational method, 
we should employ the rational course of mental in- 
vestigation; we should proceed from facts to princi- 
ples. We should begin with synthesis and close with 
analysis. 

(4.) A good method should be a means of intellec- 
tual culture. The mode of imparting knowledge 
should serve as a developer of the various intellectual 
faculties, primary and secondary. 

(5.) A good method should have reference to the 
future pursuit of the child in this life and his destiny 
in the life to come. 

In teaching Reading, Writing, Grammar, Arithme- 
tic, and other subjects, it is not difficult to show how 
useful they are in the various callings of life. In 
lessons on the sun, stars, the human body, and the 
mind, the child readily comprehends the idea of an 
intelligent, all-wise Creator. His duty to God and his 
fellow-men can be very easily impressed upon him. 

The most successful teachers of modern times have 
unanimously agreed that these are the leading char- 
acteristics of a good method of instruction. Joseph 
Payne, one of the greatest educational reformers of 
the age, in speaking of the mode of teaching the in- 
structor should employ, said, "The teacher must be- 
gin his instruction in science, language, etc., with 
concrete matter — with facts ; must exercise his pupil's 
native powers of observation, judgment, and reason- 
ing ; call on him to practice synthesis and analysis ; 
make him explore, investigate, and discover for him- 
self." C. Marcel, in a famous work entitled, "Lan- 
guage as a Means of Mental Culture and Interna- 
tional Communication," declared, "A good method 



METHODS OF EDUCATION. 63 



favors self-teaching, is in accordance with nature, 
comprises Analysis and Synthesis, is both practical 
and comparative, and is an instrument of intellectual 
culture." 

The renowned Roger Ascham v»^ho impressed upon 
the people of England the importance of the English 
Language, T. Tate, the profound and erudite scholar, 
Jacotot, the learned and enthusiastic instructor, Froe- 
bel, the philosopher and educator. Col. Francis W. 
Parker, the founder of the Quincy Schools, and oth- 
ers have expressed, in substance, the same sentiments 
respecting the true manner of educating the child. 
The Latin apothemn, ''Experto crede,'' "Believe an 
experienced man," is duly regarded by the progres- 
sive instructor. 

Every teacher should well understand in theory and 
in practice the Synthetic, or Inductive, the Analytic, 
or Deductive, the Socratic, or Interrogative, the Sim- 
ultaneous, the Illustrative, the Lecturing, and the 
Essay Methods of teaching. 

(1.) THE SYNTHETIC AND ANALYTIC, OR THE 
INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE METHODS. 

The Synthetic, or Inductive Method is best adapt- 
ed to elementary instruction The instructor should 
unfold the subject step by step to the pupil until he 
comes to the general principle or principles which he 
wishes to establish When the scholar has obtained 
a clear knowledge of the principle from the facts on 
which it rests, the teacher can impart the same 
knowledge by the Analytic, or Deductive Method. 
He may announce the principle which has been learn 



64 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



ed, and proceed to give the facts which demon- 
strate it. 

In teaching Arithmetic, we instruct synthetically, 
or inductively when we proceed to work out a num- 
ber of examples from certain known principles with- 
out following any abstract rule ; we pursue the ana- 
lytic, or deductive method when we lay down a gen- 
eral rule, and work out examples under it. 

The teacher may impart instruction on a general 
principle drawn from the history of nations syntheti- 
cally, or inductively in this manner. Ethiopia and 
Egypt surrendered themselves to idolatry, indolence, 
and wickedness, and were overcome by a more pow- 
erful nation. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Kome 
arose to affluence and power, succumbed to false reli- 
gions and criminal practices, and finally perished. 
Italy, Spain, and other countries were gradually un- 
dermined by the insidious influences of vice and cor- 
ruption. We learn from the records of these nations 
that idolatry, laziness, and corruption inevitably in- 
duce the decay of a people. 

Now the same, significant truth may be taught an- 
alytically, or deductively as follows. We learn from 
the records of nations that idolatry, laziness, and cor- 
ruption inevitably induce thte decay of a people. Ethi- 
opia and Egypt surrendered themselves to idolatry, 
indolence, and wickedness, and were overcome by a 
more powerful nation. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and 
Rome arose to affluence and power, succumbed to 
false religions and criminal practices, and finally 
perished. Italy, Spain, and other countries were 
gradually undermined by the insidious influences of 
vice and corruption. The Constructive Method is the 



METHODS OF EDUCATION. 65 



best form of the Synthetic Mode of teaching. It em- 
bodies the leading characteristics of our most approv- 
ed methods of primary instruction. The elements of 
Geography, History, Grammar, Arithmetic, and 
Spelling may be efficiently inculcated by it. 

(II.) THE SOCRATIC, OR INTERROGATIVE 

METHOD. 

Questioning pupils on subjects studied may be used 
for the purpose of examination for the impartation 
of instruction. Strictly speaking, it is an excellent 
form of synthetic teaching, and is, perhaps, better un- 
derstood and more frequently used by the great body 
of teachers than any other. In employing it, the 
following directions should be observed. 

(1.) The language used by the instructor should be 
as simple and as concise as possible, and he should 
never put a question which can be answered by yes 
or no. 

(2.) The questions should be given in such an order 
as to form a progressive development of the subject. 

(3.) Children should be accustomed to answering 
questions in their own language, and should be per- 
mitted to interrogate each other. 

(4.) In preparing questions for examination, the 
questions should form a strict analysis of the subject, 
and, in order to inspire confidence in the children, the 
first ones should be easy and short ; but the others 
should gradually increase in difficulty. 

(III.) THE SIMULTANEOUS METHOD. 

According to this mode of teaching, all the pupils 
are allowed to speak at once. This method seems to 



C)C) SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



arouse the interest and attention of the class, though 
it often creates noise and confusion. After the inter- 
rogative method has been used for some time, the 
teacher may profitably change to the simultaneous. 
This is but another form of the Interrogative Method, 
for all of the scholars answer togetlier instead of each 
one replying separately. It is so universally known 
and employed that I deem it unnecessary to illustrate 
it: however, it may be well to remark that the in- 
structor should counteract the following evils con- 
nected with its use. 

1. Some will reply before others, while others will 
purposely wait to learn from them the answers. 

2. Some will not attempt to answer, and others 
will interject something in no manner related to the 
subject. 

(IV.) THE ILLUSTRATIVE METHOD. 

By this mode of instruction, we seek to convey 
knowledge to the child by means of pictures, draw- 
ings, diagrams, experiments, and incidents. In teach- 
ing, for instance, the discovery of America by Colum- 
bus, the faculties can be expanded, and knowledge 
can be conveyed with much greater facility by means 
of a picture of Columbus and a map showing his voy- 
age. In giving instruction in Grammar, Geography, 
and other studies, diagrams and maps are of great 
service. 

(V.) THE LECTURING METHOD. 

A subject may be taught by this method by giving 
a continuous discourse on it at one recitation and 
asking questions on it at another. This mode of im- 



METHODS OF EDUCATION. 67 



parting" iDstruction is very profitable to somewhat ad- 
vanced students who understand the elements of the 
subjects with which the lecturer deals. In fact, it 
may be employed with great advantage in teaching a 
new subject, provided the students are habituated to 
the practice of writing out an outline on each lecture, 
and are critically and systematically questioned by 
the instructor on the knowledge given. 

(VI.) THE ESSAY METHOD. 

The practice of writing compositions on different 
parts of a subject is denominated the Essay Method 
of teaching. This mode of instruction imparts effi- 
ciency to all the methods ordinarily employed in the 
schools. It may be used with great advantage in 
teaching almost all the common school, high school, 
and collegiaie branches. 

The MIXED METHOD, which is a combination 
of two or more of the preceding modes of conveying 
knowledge and disciplining the faculties, is always 
used by the most thouglitful instructors. 

The teacher must not evince a blind, unreasoning 
devotion to some pet method. He should exercise 
discrimination in selecting such methods as are best 
adapted to the existing circumstances. They should 
be tested and modified to suit the various tastes, hab- 
its, and future pursuits of the scholar. The system 
or method of instruction which secures the proper 
development of the physical, intellectual, and moral 
faculties in harmony with one another, and best fits 
the child for his future work in this life and his des- 
tiny in the life to come is the most valuable. 



LECTURE IV. 

HOW TO TEAGH READING. 



What is Beading? — The Preparatioji tvhich the Child 
Has Made — How to teach Beading hy the Word Method — 
Should Script or Print he Used First, ox Both Together % 
The Object, Word, Sentence, and Script Methods Were 
Discovered Years Ago — The Professional Teacher Should 
Know the A B G and the Word Methods, 



"Reading is the interpretation and expression of the 
thoughts, sentiments, and feelings of an author." — Fertich's 
Instructive Elocution, 

Reading is, first, obtaining thoughts, feeHngs, and 
purposes by means of written or printed words and, 
secondly, expressing them intelHgently to others. In 
perusing Samuel R. Ward's "Autobiography^ of the 
Negro Fugitive" or Joseph Wilson's "Emancipation," 
we should certainly obtain a clear understanding of 
the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of the author, 
and should be able to make them known to others 
with intelligence. 

The old method of teaching Reading demanded 
that the child should be first taught the entire alpha- 
bet and then the spelling of simple words. When 
he could sj)ell with some degree of ease a few com- 
mon words, he was allowed to begin with the Primer 
or First Reader. Many excellent readers have been 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 69 



taught by the A B C Method; but the "New Educa- 
tion" shows an easier mode of teaching the child to 
grasp and express thought. The best and most suc- 
cessful teachers of children in this and other coun- 
tries advocate that the child should be taught the 
whole word first and not the letters and spelling of it. 

When the teacher attempts to give instruction by 
this method, he should thoroughly understand the 
preparation which a child has made for learning to 
read and what is necessary to be performed in learn- 
ing to read. 

First, the child has obtained certain knowledge 
from Nature by his senses ; secondly, he has express- 
ed the ideas thus gained by spoken words ; thirdly, 
he possesses a moderate vocabulary of common 
words, and, fourthly, his emphasis, inflection, and 
melody of voice in most instances are good. In learn- 
ing to read, it is necessary for the child to obtain an 
idea and then to clearly express it. Oral Keading 
should be so performed by the scholar that the teach- 
er should discover the thought in the child's mind in 
its fullness and beauty. The pupil should be taught 
to express himself in reading as he does in talking. 
The desired result is best achieved by teaching Read- 
ing by the Word Method. 

The child of five or six years of age has acquired 
ideas and learned to express them in spoken words. 
In learning to read, he must learn to use written 
and printed words precisely as he has employed 
spoken words. How does the child acquire spo- 
ken words ? is a question of some importance to the 
careful instructor. In answering this query, it should 
be stated that the child sees the object first, and then 



70 SCIENCE, ARr AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



learns the word which desigriates it. The spoken 
word recalls to the little one an idea, but the idea ex- 
isted in his mind before the word. 

Now, in teaching the child according to the Word 
Method, the same significant principle must be ob- 
served. A word is used to recall an idea, and it can 
be thoroughly learned only by association with the 
idea recalled. When the child learns the spoken 
word, he learns it as a whole and does not know that 
it has any elementary parts. If we would follow Na- 
ture in her teaching, we should teach the written 
word as a whole, and should not attempt to separate 
the written word into parts. The AVord Method, 
which consists in learning the word as a whole with- 
out directing attention to its parts, demands that the 
object should be held up before the child, and its 
name should be written or printed as the instructor 
may prefer. In the selection of objects, those with 
which the child is best acquainted should be chosen. 
Sketches, pictures, simple conversations, and pointed 
stories may be sometimes used with effect in enabling 
the pupil to associate ideas with written words. 

As learning to read is essentially mastering a vo- 
cabulary of written and printed words, it is important 
to know what words should be taught first. The 
greatest difficulty to the child consists in learning the 
first few words, and, hence, those words should be 
selected with respect to objects and ideas known to 
the child. Such words as dog, cat, fan, man, rat, egg, 
nest, the, a, an, dress, hat, fox, cap, fish, here, there, 
where, bag, and jug should be first learned by the 
child. 

I shall now endeavor to illustrate the simplest mode 



HOW TO TEACH BEADING. 71 



of teaching words. We shall suppose that we wish 
to teach the children the word "hat." Let the teacher 
take a hat in his hand and say, "What is this ?" Of 
course every pupil will readily and correctly answer. 
Let him then tell the school that he will put on the 
board the word "hat." The teacher should then 
print the word "hat," and afterward write it in script; 
or he may write it in script, and then print it. In 
printing and writing a word, it should be printed and 
written with the first letter both large and small. 
The slates of all the children should be ruled by the 
teacher by cutting deep lines with a knife, and the 
scholars should copy with exactitude the word "hat" 
as printed and written on the board. 

We may suppose that the instructor wishes to teach 
the word "ax." A real ax should be shown to the 
school and taught in the same manner as the word 
"hat" was. If the real ax cannot be obtained, the 
picture of an ax should be drawn on the board, and 
then the teacher may proceed as I have before stat- 
ed. He should continue to teach in this manner un- 
til he has taught about one hundred or one hundred 
and fifty words. In selecting the list of words, he 
should be careful to bring to the mind of the child 
those words which represent ideas and objects with 
which he is perfectly familiar. As the Primer or First 
Reader will be studied by the child, it is advisable to 
pick from three or four such books a number of the 
words which will first come to the attention of the 
pupil. 

We might consider at this point the question. Should 
print or script be taught in the beginning, or should 
both be taught together? I have associated with 



72 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



skilful teachers who used with great success both at 
once. In the hands of a live, industrious teacher, 
the child can learn with profit both the printed and 
written form at the same time Many prefer to teach 
the printed form alone of about one hundred or more 
words and then the same in script, while others do 
just the reverse. Those who prefer to teach the script 
alone first argue that it is easier for the child to mas- 
ter one form than it is to master two, and that, as 
writing is a mode of expression which the child will 
use all his life, he should be taught it in the beginning. 
None of these ways of teaching a word is violative 
of any principle, and, hence, the teacher is at liberty 
to employ at the beginning print or script, or print 
and script combined. The best teachers of the Word 
Method, with few exceptions, now advocate the teach- 
ing of both at once. If the instructor is not thor- 
oughly conversant with this method, I would advise 
him to take the following advice as given by Col. 
Francis W. Parker, "Train the child to use one set of 
forms, made in one way and one alone. In my ex- 
perience extending over eleven years of supervision 
of primary schools, I have never known the failure 
of a single class to change from script to print 
easily and readily in one or two days." Even in 
teaching script and print together, the word should 
be first written in script and then in print Though 
Col. Parker so strenuously advocated the use of script 
alone, he acknowledges that script and print may be 
used at the same time with good effect ; for he says, 
"I will try to present the argument in favor of script 
alone, not denying, however, that script and print 
may be used at the same time with good effect." 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 1^ 



When the child has been taught about one hun- 
dred or one hundred and fifty words, he may be 
taught how to read from the board short sentences. 
Short sentences may be well taught in the following 
manner. Let the pupil take a hat in his hand and be 
led to say, "This is a hat." The instructor now writes 
the sentence on the board, and tells the child that the 
chalk has said what he said. He may then ask the 
question, "What did the chalk say on the board?" 
The pupil readily replies. Now write in succession, 
in the place of hat, all the object-words that have 
been taught. Change "this" to "that," "that" to 
"here," and "here" to "there." As the scholar reads 
each sentence, he should hold up the required object. 
It would be well to change the singulars to plurals, 
and to use "these" and "those." Questions of this 
kind should be written ; "Where is the hat ?", and the 
scholar should reply orally by holding up the object, 
"Here is the hat." The answer should then be placed 
on the board. When about six or eight sentences 
have been written, let the scholars read them indi- 
vidually and collectively. Continue thus to intro- 
duce new words with objects. 

Qualities of objects may be inculcated next; as, the 
"blue" hat; the "red" cap; the "large" box; the "fat" 
boy. Exclamatory sentences may be brought in ; as, 
Oh, here is a box! See the pretty dress ! Imperative 
sentences may be brought in at this point ; as. Come 
to me. Go out. Stand up. Short connected stories 
may be placed on the board by the teacher. A bird 
in a nest in a tree may be sketched on the board, and 
short sentences may be written concerning the ob- 
jects seen in the picture. I would advise the teacher 



74 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



to write each sentence in script and print and teacli 
both together. 

When the child has learned to read with ease and 
accuracy about one hundred short sentences from the 
board, and can write them on the slate, he is prepar- 
ed to beg-in the first reading book. A number of the 
sentences written on the board should be taken from 
the book which the child is to use. Some teachers 
use the Primer as the first book, but the greater num- 
ber employ the First Reader. 

Due attention to the following directions will great- 
ly aid the instructor in teaching primary reading by 
the Word Method. 

(1.) Teach words by first presenting objects, 
sketches, or pleasant conversations ; for they give 
ideas which should always precede words. 

(2.) Teach the words very slowly, and arrange 
them in many different sentences. 

(3.) See that the child obtains the thought before 
he is allowed to express it, and do not permit him to 
guess at words and sentences. 

(4.) Lead each child to write all words and sen- 
tences on a well-ruled slate and also on the black- 
board. 

(5.) Teach the pupil to begin each sentence with a 
capital letter and to use the correct punctuation mark 
at the end of each. 

The Object, Word, Sentence, and Script Methods 
discussed in this lecture were discovered long ago, 
and teachers have often employed them. The Script 
Method is certainly not less than one hundred years 
of age, and it is the youngest of all. All of these 
modes of instruction were discovered by teachers 



HOW TO TEACH READING. t5 



from observing and studying the great laws of mind. 
Each of them is good, and should be used in its pro- 
per place. It should be remembered that all these 
methods are intended, first, to enable the child to ob- 
tain a clear conception of the thoughts, feelings, and 
purposes of an author, and, secondly, to express with 
understanding his thoughts, feelings, and purposes 
to others. That mode of instruction which leads the 
child to do this most readily is the best. 

While the Word Method is, without doubt, the bet- 
ter mode of teaching Beading for the great majority 
of children, the experience of a good number of ex- 
cellent teachers proves that the ABC Method is 
sometimes found better for a few. The skilful and 
professional instructor should know how to handle 
each with grace and efficacy. 




LECTUKE V. 

HOW TO TEAGH SPELLING:^ PHONIGS. 



The Old Method of Teaching Spelling — The True Fur- 
pose of it — How Should it he Taught? — What is Meant by 
Phonics — The Best Mode of Teaching Phonics. 



"Spelling is the art of representing words by their proper 
letters. — Greeners Eng. Grammar. 

In teaching Spelling according to the old method, 
the instructor usually began by putting a spelling 
book in the hands of the child who was frequently 
forced to spell words which he did not comprehend. 
Often he was permitted to give by voice simply the 
letters of a word, and was seldom taught to write them. 
It was discovered that, though children studied 
through different spellers under such instruction, 
they did not acquire the needed capability of writ- 
ing words. The great majority of teachers of the 
old New York Spelling Book method proceeded 
upon the assumption that naming the letters of a word 
with the voice was the great desideratum in teaching 
Spelling. 

We can readily perceive the great defect of this 
mode of teaching, when we remember that the main 
purpose in teaching Spelling is to prepare one for 
composition. If the child is to become in time a neat, 



HOW TO TEACH SPELLING AND PHONICS. 77 



correct composer, he must have a good understand- 
ino- of the meaning of words, and must be able to 
write them correctly in neatly formed sentences. 

The following method will secure the desired re- 
sults more readily and effectively than any other. 
We must remember that the words first taught on 
the black-board in Reading should be the first words 
spelled by the child. We shall suppose that the 
teacher wishes to teach the child how to spell with 
understanding the word "cat." The instructor first 
pronounces the word "cat." The child then pro- 
nounces it, and spells it orally. The teacher now 
causes him to give a neat sentence containing the word 
"cat." The child says, "I see a cat." The pupil is 
now directed to write this word on his ruled slate. 
When this is correctly done, he is directed to write 
the sentence, "I see a cat." The scholar proceeds in 
this manner in learning to spell any word. 

Let us take another case in which the pupil is to 
spell a word of two or three syllables. The word 
' 'follow" is to be taught. The teacher first seeks to im- 
press upon the child its meaning and then its spelling. 
He pronounces it and says f-o-1, fol, 1-o-w, lo, fol- 
low. The scholar then pronounces it in the same man- 
ner. He then gives the meaning of it by employing 
it in a sentence, after which he writes it, and then 
writes a sentence containing it. The teacher may 
proceed thus with all words. 

The question is often asked. When should the child 
begin spelling ? It is very important that the teacher 
should know just at what time in a child's mental 
growth each study should be commenced; for, if he 
does not know this, he is liable to do violence to the 



78 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



child's nature. According to my judgment, Spelling- 
should be begun by the pupil when he has finished 
about one hundred sentences, and is prepared to be- 
gin the Primer or First Reader. At this stage of his 
mental growth, he is acquainted with a number of 
individual words and a few sentences. He knows his 
alphabet, and is prepared to name the letters of words 
and to use them in sentences. If an attempt is made 
to have the pupil begin spelling before he has ob- 
tained this preparation, too much is crowded upon 
him, and he will accomx^lish but little. 

Every word which occurs in the different reading 
books used by the child should be spelled in the man- 
ner indicated. In fact, it is very advantageous to the 
student to have him learn to spell every word which 
occurs in any book which he may study. In teach- 
ing Arithmetic, Geography, History, Grammar, or 
any other study, the instructor must impress the child 
with the importance of knowing how to spell correct- 
ly any word in them. 

I have frequently employed the method explained 
in this lecture with great success. For ten years I 
tested it, and always found that I could teach spell- 
ing by it with more satisfaction than by any other 
mode. My own testimony in this respect is corrobo- 
rated by the experience of numbers of excellent teach- 
ers with whom I have conversed on methods from 
time to time. The teacher must exercise patience in 
endeavoring to use it, and must be mindful of the 
fact that children learn slowly by constantly doing 
what is required to be done. Hence the child must 
be taught to spell orally, to give sentences embody- 
ing the words, to write them, and to write neat sen- 
tences containing them. 



HOW TO TEACH SPELLING AND PHONICS. 79 



PHONICS. 

By Phonics, we mean the science of the sounds of 
the human voice. When should Phonics be taught 
the child? is a question which has been frequently- 
discussed among teachers. 

In the English language there are about forty ele- 
mentary sounds. As it is not a purely phonetic 
tongue, one character frequently has more than one 
sound. Now, the question might be put in this form, 
When should the child begin to associate the element- 
ary sounds with the letters which stand for them ? 

I would not advise the teacher to commence such 
instruction when the child begins the Word Method 
of Eeading or when he commences Spelling ; for, in 
either case, too much is put upon him, and he will 
make bat little progress in what is attempted. I am 
convinced that a pupil is prepared to commence with 
advantage Phonology, when he has spelled such 
words as are usually found in the First Reader. Pho- 
nics may be very readily taught by the following 
method. Take a word which illustrates the first 
sound of a, as "ale." The child should be taught to 
spell it phonetically by the voice and by writing it 
on the slate. Silent letters should be crossed by 
neat oblique lines. Then select words which illus- 
trate the second, third, and fourth sounds of a ; as, 
hat, far, ball. 

In indicating on the board or state the different 
sounds of «, some teachers use the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 
4, while others prefer to employ diacritical marks. 
In teaching children, the instructor must determine 
from the general abihty of the school whether four 
or six sounds of a should be taught. In the begin- 



80 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



ning it is better, perhaps, to teach only four sounds 
of it. 

Words illustrating the two sounds of e may be 
chosen; as, me, met; then those having the two 
sounds of i ; as, fine, fin ; then those embodying the 
four sounds of o ; as, gold, box, move, morn ; then 
those showing the four sounds of u ; as, mute, cup, 
pull, fur, and those having the two sounds of y, when 
it has the sounds of i ; as, myth, thyme. 

While the different sounds of the vowels are learn- 
ed, the child becomes acquainted with the sounds of 
such consonants as are found in the words taught. 
But he should understand the sounds of all the con- 
sonants, and should be able to give them. The teach- 
er can very easily impart to him this knowledge by 
picking out simj^le words of one syllable embodying 
the needed consonantal sounds. Particular care 
should be exercised in teaching consonants which 
have more than one sound, those having the sounds 
of two other letters, and those which are sounded 
together ; such as, c, x, ch, sh, and th. 

The different sounds of these letters may be easily 
taught by employing the signs which indicate them, 
or by writing over them the letters which represent 
their real sounds. C soft, as in "cede," may be indi- 

s 

cated thus, cede or cede; ch as in "chaise," thus,- 

SH _ ' 

chaise. 

Some instructors do not employ diacritical marks in 
indicating to the eye the different sounds of different 
letters on the ground that they are too difficult for 
the child ; but the experience and testimony of a 
large number of successful teachers prove that chil- 
dren can soon master them. 



HOW TO TEACH READING AND PHONICS. 81 



It should be remembered that the best lexicograph- 
ers, as Webster and Worcester, use diacritical marks 
very extensively in indicating the pronunciation of 
different words. If one does not know the sounds 
represented by such marks, he cannot understand 
the exact pronunciation of words. It is important, 
therefore, that the child should know them. 

Phonetic Spelling must be first learned orally by 
the child. As soon as he can do this with ease and 
readiness, he should be taught to spell them phoneti- 
cally on the black-board and slate. It is by the writ- 
ing exercises that he becomes acquainted with the 
different diacritical marks. 

Thus far we have referred to the spelling of words 

of one syllable ; for the iDupil must learn how to han- 
dle with ease that class of words before he proceeds 
to spell those of two and more syllables. When the 
teacher is confident that the scholar can spell pho- 
netically one-syllable words, he should teach him 
simple words of two syllables, after which words of 
three syllables and more should be taught. 

The different words found in the different readers 
of the child should be spelled phonetically as well as 
by naming their letters. It is excellent practice to 
cause the pupil to first spell a word by naming its 
letters and then to spell it by phonics and call his 
attention to the real difference between the spellings. 
I have had a school of more than fifty children aver- 
aging eleven years of age to obtain by this'^method 
from 95 to 98 per cent in an oral and written exami- 
nation. 

The importance of teaching phonics may be seen 
from the fact that a correct knowledge of the ele- 
mentary sounds of the different letters is the basis of 
all correct reading and spelling. Deficiency in pro- 
nunciation and articulation arises, in great measure, 
from an indefinite knowledge of Phonology. 



LECTUEE VI. 

HOW TO TEAGH ARITHMETIC. 



What is Niimher f — - What Cun he Done With it f — How 
Must it he Taught f — The First Yearns Worlc — The Second 
Yearh Work — The Third Yearns Worlc may Begin with 
the First Steps in Addition, Suhtraction, and MuUifplication 
— The Numhers from Thirty to Fifty — The Second Steps 
in Addition, Subtractio7i, and Multiplication — After Sixty, 
Teach Time, Dry Measure, and Long Measure — From Sev- 
enty to One Hundred — The Third Step in Multiplication — 
The Steps in Division — Other Suhjects of Arithmetic. 



"Number is the useful thing, 
Which man must know whatever comes ; 

For peace and life do often hinge 
Upon the way he counts his sums." — The Author. 

In teaching Arithmetic, we first aim to impart to 
the child a correct idea of number. The question 
may be asked, What is number ? Number definitely 
limits objects of the same kind to how many. It is 
very important to know what can be done with num- 
ber. Here are several numbers : the question natu- 
rally arises, In what relations can they be seen ? I 
can unite them into one number and separate this 
number into other numbers. Every operation in 
Arithmetic consists of one or both of these simple 
processes, — uniting and separating. 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 83 



Uniting numbers is addition ; uniting equal num- 
bers is multiplication. Separating numbers is sub- 
traction; separating numbers equally is division. 
These are the four fundamental operations in Arith- 
metic, and it should be remembered that the applica- 
tion of these simple relations enter into the various 
operations of it. The instructor should ever hold in 
his mind the reasons for teaching number. There 
are two important motives for giving instruction in 
Arithmetic : first, it trains the intellectual faculties 
to calculate with exactitude and rapidity, and develops 
the power to reason logically ; secondly, it assists us 
in the practical affairs of life. 

Let us now consider the question, How must num- 
ber be taught? I do not deem it necessary to ex- 
plain the old method of teaching beginners Arith- 
metic ; for almost every teacher is well acquainted 
with it. I shall simply endeavor to present a method 
which experience has proved to be superior to it, 
and which possesses all its excellencies with the best 
features of the "Quincy Methods." As no good 
teacher would think of teaching Geography without 
maps, Botany without j)lants, or Physiology without 
charts or bones, so no skilful instructor would attempt 
to teach number without numbers of objects. He 
should supply himself with sticks, peas, beans, blocks, 
spools, pebbles, shells, buttons, measures, cups, and 
other objects. 

The first step in teaching number consists in ascer- 
taining, by careful examination, just what the pupil 
knows. This may be easily done in the following 
manner. Hold up two objects and say, "Bring me 
so many." If this is done, hold up three objects and 



84 BCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



say, "Bring- me three blocks." Then present three 
beans and ask, "How many?" Give questions such 
as this. I take one stick from two sticks ; how many 
sticks are left ? A child may count up to a number, 
and not have a clear knowledge of it. Hence, his 
ability to count should not be taken as a test of his 
knowledge of numbers. From repeated tests given 
by myself to a large number of children, I discover- 
ed that the average child of five or six years of age 
does not know beyond the number two when he en- 
ters the school-room for the first time. In most in- 
stances, it is best to begin with three in teaching" 
number. 

There are two important points to be observed in 
teaching every number. First, we should teach the 
number as a whole, and, secondly, the addition, sub- 
traction, multiplication, and division facts of it. I 
shall now take the number three to illustrate the best 
method of teaching number. 

1. Three as a Whole. Pick me out two spools, and 
put one more with them. How many are there ? 
Show me just as many sticks, beans, desks, boys, 
girls, trees. 

2. The Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and 
Division Facts of Three. Teach two and one thus. 
Show me two sticks. Show me one more stick. How 
many sticks have you shown me ? Cause the child 
to do likewise with the other objects. Then tell them 
such incidents as the following. Nellie had two birds, 
and bought one more ; how many did she then have ? 
Teach one and two thus. Hand me one pea. Hand 
me two more peas. How many peas have you hand- 
ed me? 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 85 



Now teach the subtraction facts. Teach three mi- 
nus one thus. Hand me three beans. Take one away. 
How many are left ? Do likewise with other objects. 
Willie had three apples and ate one ; how many 
were left ? Teach three minus two thus. Take three 
pieces of chalk. Give me two of them. How many 
have you left? Sarah had three dolls, and g-ave away 
two ; how many did she have left ? Teach likewise 
three minus three. 

Now teach the division and multiplication facts as 
follows. Teach three divided by one thus. Take 
three pencils. How many one-pencils can you find 
in them ? Mary had three apples, and g-ave one each 
to some girls ; to how many g-irls did she give them ? 
Teach three divided by three thus. Take three ap- 
ples. Hand them to three boys. How many does 
each receive ? In three there is but one multiplica- 
tion fact which may be taught thus. Here are three 
pens with a pig in each pen. How many pigs are 
there? One boy has one nose; how many noses 
have three boys ? In teaching this number, a larger 
assortment of practical examples should be used than 
I have presented. The figure three may be easily 
taught after the different facts of the number three 
are clearly understood. 

When the pupil thoroughly understands the num- 
ber three, he should learn the other numbers in reg- 
ular order in the same manner. Each number as a 
whole and the addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
and division facts of it should be systemetically in- 
culcated. The different facts of any number from 
three to one hundred may be very easily found. In 
selecting the addition facts, find what numbers will 



86 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



give you the number which you are teaching. For 
instance, I know that two and two, one and three, 
and three and one make four. The subtraction facts 
may be readily picked out by remembering that the 
number and all lower numbers can be taken from the 
number itself. Thus, we observe that the subtraction 
facts of six are six minus six, six minus five, six minus 
four, six minus three, six minus two, and six minus 
one. In presenting the multiplication facts, find 
what two numbers multiplied together will produce 
the number taught. Thus, we note that the multipli- 
cation facts of eight are eight ones, two fours, four 
twos ; we sometimes say eight times one, two times 
four, and four times two. In teaching the division 
facts, find what numbers will exactly divide the num- 
ber taught. In each division, the divisor will be one 
number, and the quotient will be the other. For in- 
stance, we perceive that one, two, and five exactly 
divide ten. Hence the division facts of ten are 
ten divided by one, ten divided by two, and ten di- 
vided by five. There is no necessity to divide the 
number by itself. 

As soon as the pupil has learned the number ten 
the fractions one-half, one-third, and one-fourth may^ 
be taught. The following method is a good one for 
teaching the fraction one-half. Take a stick, and 
divide it into two equal parts. How much of the 
stick is each part? Some child will probably say, 
"One-half." Do likewise with a number of objects. 
Show me one-half of two buttons, one-half of four 
buttons, one-half of six buttons, one-half of eight but- 
tons, one-half of ten buttons. In this manner teach 
one-third and one-fourth. Some teachers object to 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 87 



the teaching- of the fractions one-half, one-third, and 
others before the child understands numbers well, 
and knows addition, subtraction, multiplication, and 
division. They claim that the child is made to at- 
l;empt too much at once. On this point, I simply- 
state that fractions do not present much difficulty 
when they accompany the teaching of whole num- 
bers from the beginning*. 

In presenting the number eleven, ten sticks should 
be tied in a bundle, and the attention of the child 
should be called to this fact. With twelve, the signs 
of equality -^ , plus I , and minus — should be learn- 
ed by the child. The signs may be given by the fol- 
lowing method. Who will supply the word that is 
necessary to complete this sentence, 5 and 3 . . . 8 ? 
Some pupil will probably say, "Equal." Then im- 
press him with the fact that the sign = means equal. 
Who will give the word that is necessary to complete 
this sentence, 8 . . . 2-- 10? Some one will say 
"And." Then let him understand that the sign f 
means and. Who will tell the word that will fill out 
this sentence, 9 ... 7-2? Some one will, in all 
probability, say, "Less " Impress the child with the 
fact that the sign — means less or minus. Introduce 
a large number of exercises, such as the following-, 
and cause the pupil to supply the necessary signs and 
numbers: 7+3= . . ; 9— 6=- . . . ; 7 . . . 3=4; 
10 . . . 7=3; 12—10 ... 

The question is often asked. How much should the 
child attempt to learn during the first year ? Accord- 
ing to the testimony of those who are best acquainted 
with this method, the pupil, during the first school 
year, can really learn between ten and fifteen. I am 



88 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



convinced that the teacher can, by careful training, 
enable the child to master at least twelve in that time. 
Some think that the attempt to teach four operations 
at once confuses the pupil ; but experience shows that 
the child readily grasps them, when they are proper-' 
ly and systematically taught. As I have before inti- 
mated, the figure which represents a number may be 
taught as soon as the nuruber itself is thoroughly mas- 
tered. As far as my experience is concerned, 1 see 
no serious objection to teaching figures along with 
numbers. Hence the child may, during the first year, 
commence slate and blackboard work. 

The second year's work may be begun with thir- 
teen, if the first year's teaching ended with twelve. 
During the first year, the teacher should not attempt 
to teach beyond the number fifteen, and the second 
year's instruction in number should not commence 
with any number beyond sixteen. The signs of 
multiplication and division may be given with fifteen 
in the same manner as the others. After the child 
learns nineteen, tens should be inculcated as prepara- 
tory to the teaching of twenty . One hundred sticks 
should be put into bundles of ten each. The pupil 
should be so thoroughly drilled that he can readily 
tell how many there are in two tens, three tens, four 
tens, five tens, six tens, seven tens, eight tens, nine 
tens, and ten tens. Practical examples and slate 
work should be given. After the number thirty has 
been learned, the fractions one- fifth, and one -sixth, 
may be taught as one-half was. Liquid Measure may 
be also taught at this point. To do this with efficien- 
cy, the instructor should supply himself with gill, 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 8^ 



pint, half -pint, quart, and gallon measures. Dry 
Measnre may be then taught. 

The first step in addition, when the sum of the 
units does not exceed nine, may be taught after thirty 
thus. Three boys had some marbles; one had thir- 
teen, another, twenty-four, and the other, thirty-two. 
Let some pupil show by the sticks or some other ob- 
jects what the ^um is. He picks out the bundle of 
ten sticks and three separate sticks for thirteen, two 
bundles of ten sticks and four separate ones for twen- 
ty-four, and three bundles of ten sticks and two sepa- 
rate ones for thirty -two. He then counts nine single 
ones and six tens, which make sixty -nine. Give a num- 
ber of examples such as the foregoing, and cause the 
child to show their sum by the objects. When he 
can readily do this, the examples may be transfer- 
red to the board and slate, and added in the usual 
manner. 

The first step in subtraction, when the number in 
each order of the minuend is greater than the corre- 
sponding number in the subtrahend, should be taught 
in the following manner. I have fifty -seven chickens, 
and sell twenty -four. Let some child show from the 
objects how many are left. He removes from the five 
tens and seven single sticks two tens and four single 
sticks, and he at once sees three tens and three single 
sticks remaining. Give several like examples, and 
when the pupil is familiar with their solution by 
means of the sticks, the same or like examples may be 
transferred to the board and slate, and subtracted 
in the usual way. 

The first step in multiplication, when the multi- 



do SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OP TEACHING. 



plier is less than ten, and the product of any order in 
the miiltiplieand is hiSs thanten, may be well j^^iven by 
the following method. If it takes twenty-two cents 
to buy one melon, how many cents will it take to buy 
four? The child should take the sticks or some ob- 
jects, and show how many twos are needed. He then 
shows how many tens are wanted. After he has 
worked mentally a number of examples in this man- 
ner, he is prepared to solv^e them on the board and 
slate. After these steps are learned, we teach from 
thirty to fifty. I shall say at this point that the sec- 
ond year's work shonkl end with thirty, and that the 
pupil should be^in the third year with the first steps 
in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Some 
teachers, however, pn^fcjr to include these steps in the 
second year's teaching. 

As soon as the child has learned fifty, he may pro- 
ceed to master the next steps in addition, subtraction, 
and multiplication. The second step in addition, 
when the sum of the ones exceeds nine, should also be 
taught by objects in the following manner. Three 
boys were counting their marbles. One had twenty- 
six, another had thirty-five, and the other had twen- 
ty-four. Let us see how many marbles they all had. 
Let the pupil show each numl)er by sticks. Let him 
find the numb(;r of on(;s, which are fifteen. He 
knows that, in fifteen, th(;ie are one ten and five sin- 
gle oijcs. I*ut a string or rubber band around the 
ten. Now let him count the tens, whi(;h are seven, 
and add the one ten to them. He will then have eight 
tens and five single ones, which make eighty-five. Do 
other examples in the sann; way, and then put them 



ttOW TO TEACH AKITflMETlC. 01 



on the board, tiud have liiiri work them. Now he 
may be readily iaii^ht to add aliriowt any numbers. 

The Keeond step in Hubstraetiori, when th(i ntnnber 
in the right hand order oC the minuend Ib leHH than 
the number in the corresponding order of the subtra- 
hend, may bf^ inculcated by objects in the following 
manner. .John had lil'ty-three marbles, and sold twen- 
ty seven. We wish to know how many he had left. 
We must subtract th(5 ones iirst. When the teacher 
asks, 'Mlow many ones must we subtract?" some one 
wi 1 1 say , ' SSeven . ' ' l'>u t we cannot take seven ones from 
three ones. The instructor says, ^^ Who knows what 
to do?" Some one will probably say, ^' Break a bun- 
dle of tens." We now break a bundle of tens, and 
put them with the ones. Now we may take away 
seven. The child then sees that two tens must be 
taken from the remaining four tens. He then knows 
that John had twenty -six marl)le8 left. When the child 
can readily solve such examples by means of the ob- 
jects, he is prepared to work them on the ])oard and 
slate. When he understands how to work this kind 
of exami)les on the slate, he may be easily taught how 
to subtract any number from a larger one. 

The second st(q) in multiplication, when the multi 
plier consists of one figure, and the product of the 
number in the lowest order of the multiplicand by the 
multiplier exceeds nine, may be well taught thus. A 
farmer had seven pc^ns and forty six pigs in each. 
How many pigs did he have in alH Jjead the pupil 
to find seven sixes first. He knows that there are 
four tens and two single ones in forty-two. He puts 
a string or rul)ber band about each ten, and lays the 



92 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



two single sticks on one side. He next finds seven 
four-tens which are twenty-eight tens. Lead him to 
see that the four tens must he added to the twenty - 
eight tens, making thirty -two tens. The whole num- 
ber of pigs was three hundred and twenty -two. The 
child can very readily learn that the three in this an- 
swer means three hundred. Commence board work 
as soon as the child can easily separate the tens from 
the ones in the product of units by units, and can 
add these tens to the product of tens. When these 
different steps in addition, subtraction, and multipli- 
cation are learned by the pupil, he should proceed to 
master the numbers from fifty to one hundred inclu- 
sive according to the method which is explained in 
the preceding part of the lecture. 

After sixty is presented, the pupil may learn Time 
and the Time Table. This should be inculcated by 
the following method. Let the teacher suspend in 
front of the class a string with a weight attached to it. 
The string should be thirty -nine inches long. He 
must impress the child with the fact that whenever 
the weight moves under the hook, one second of time 
passes. He must now teach the child that sixty sec- 
onds make a minute. He can make the child easily 
comprehend this by showing him that the smallest 
hand of a watch moves once around the little circle 
while the weight swings sixty times . The pupil learns 
from this that it takes the little hand sixty seconds, 
or one minute to go entirely round the circle. Now 
see if some child cannot discover that it takes the 
long hand one hour, or sixty minutes to move round 
the face of the clock. Cause him to know how many 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 93 



minutes it takes the long hand to move from twelve 
to one, from one to two, and to the other figures on 
the face of the clock. When the scholar thoroughly 
understands seconds, minutes, and hours, he is pre- 
pared to learn, with little effort, the number of hours 
in a day, the number of days in a week, the number 
of weeks in a month, and the number of months in a 
year. Kow he can easily write the Time Table. 

After seventy is learned, he may be taught Long 
Measure. The teacher should supply himself with a 
foot-rule and a yard-measure. Let him cut a piece 
of paper one inch in length, so that the pupil will be 
enabled to tell an inch whenever he sees it. He then 
easily learns that twelve of these little measures make 
a foot, and that three foot-measures make a yard. 
Kow let the pupil learn the length of a rod by seeing 
a string five and a half yards long. He may then be 
impressed with the fact that there are three hundred 
and twenty rods in a mile . Cause the pupil to take the 
measures and find out lengths for himself. Proceed 
to teach the remaining numbers from sixty to one 
hundred according to the method illustrated in teach- 
ing the number three. Before one hundred is taught, 
Eoman I^umbers may be given. Almost any Arith- 
metic gives a simple method of teaching them. 

After one hundred is learned, the third step in mul- 
tiplication, when the multiplier consists of two fig- 
ures and the left hand figure is one, may be presented 
thus. A man had eighteen coops and thirty -six 
chickens in each . How many did he have in all ? 
Icead the scholar to find by the sticks how many 
chickens there were in eight coops. Then let him 



94 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



find how many there were in ten coops, and add both 
nnmbers together. Give a number of practical ex- 
amples of this kind, and then let the child work 
them on the board and slate. When he has master- 
ed this step, he can very easily be taught to work ex- 
amples of this kind : Thirty-six times forty-eight are 
how many? He can then be led to multiply any 
number by any number of two figures . After this he 
very readily learns to multiply, in the usual manner, 
any number by any number of three or four figures. 

The first step in division, when each order in the 
dividend is exactly divisible by the divisor, may be 
presented thus. A farmer has forty -four sheep, and 
wishes to put two in a fold. How many folds does 
he need ! Lead the child to pick out all the twos pos- 
sible from forty-four. Give other examples like these : 
Divide sixty-six by three ; ninety-six by four ; one 
hundred and five by five 5 and ninety by six. Let the 

pupil solve all these by sticks, and then put the work 
on the board and slate. 

The second step in division, when the number of 
tens in the dividend is not exactly divisible by the 
divisor, may be taught thus. A farmer has ninety- 
six sheep, and puts them in six folds. How many are 
there in each fold "? How many sixes are in nine tens, 
and how many tens are left ? We break the three 
bundles of tens, and put them with the six, and make 
thirty -six ones. How many sixes are in thirty-six 
ones "? Then take an example such as this : How 
many eights are there in one hundred and thirty - 
eight? Do this likewise, and show that two are left. 
As soon as the pupil comprehends the first and sec- 
ond steps of division, he is prepared to begin the di- 
vision of any number by any number of three or four 
figures. 



HOW TO TEACH ARITHMETIC. 95 



I have presented the best approved methods of 
teaching Primary Arithmetic to children. I do not 
deem it necessary to give methods for teaching prop- 
erties of numbers, fractions, percentage with its ap- 
plications, and other subjects of Higher Arithmetic ; 
for good methods of inculcating these subjects are 
found in the Arithmetics of Quackenbos, White, 
Greenleaf, and Wentworth. The teacher must lead 
the pupil from the simple to the complex, from ob- 
jects to ideas, from the known to the unknown. When 
a new subject is begun, let the pupil discover facts 
concerning it for himself. When he commences frac- 
tions, he should be led to discover what fractions are 
by means of sticks or some other objects. Let him 
look at the fractions and handle them. Then pursue 
the usual course in teaching them. By this method 
the child will discover for himself mixed numbers^ 
proper, and improper fractions. In teaching reduc- 
tion, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and divi- 
sion of fractions, good use can be made of the objects. 
The question is often asked, When should objects 
be dispensed with in the teaching of number ? Wheth- 
er this should be done at ten, fifteen, or some other 
number, I am not prepared to say ; however, the in- 
structor may safely follow this rule. When the child 
can comprehend a number without the presence of ob- 
jects, their use may cease. I would exhort the teach- 
er to seek to know the subject of number in its length, 
breadth, and depth? Do not imagine that you fully 
comprehend number, because you are well acquainted 
with figures ; for this is a common mistake. Lead 
the pupil to discover step by step the various rela- 
tions of each number. Definitions, processes, and 
rules are excellent agencies in mental growth, if they 
are discovered by the pupil for himself. Eemember 
the old maxim, '^Is^ever do anything for a pupil that 
he can be led to do for himself." 



LECTUKE VII. 

HOW TO TEAGH GEOGRAPHY. 



A Definition of Geography, and its Relation to other 
Sciences — The Aim in Teaching it, and How it Should be 
Taught — The Teachmg of the Forms of Land and Water — 
Moulding the Continents — Elementary Geography — An 
Easy Method of Teaching States and Countries — Teach the 
Cities, Rivers, Mountains, Boundaries, Occupation, His- 
tory, and People of Bach State and Country. 



"Geography is the science of the Earth. It deals not only 
with facts, but also with laws that govern these facts ; and 
hence it is a science." — Warren^ s Physical Geography. 

Geography is a description of the earth's surface 
and its inhabitants. It is instructive to note that the 
study of the earth's surface leads to the study of the 
various physical sciences. A knowledge of the earth 's 
surface paves the way for an investigation of its crust, 
which is the subject of Geology. The great rivers 
and river basins determine, to a large degree, the 
character of the vegetation. Thus we are brought to 
the science of Botany. Upon vegetation depends ani- 
mal life, a description of which is found in Zoology. 
The phenomena and composition of the earth's sur- 
face and crust give us both Physics and Chemistry. 
Humboldt made more observations and generaliza- 



HOW TO TEACH GEOGRAPHY. 97 



tions on matters pertaining to the earth's surface and 
its inhabitants than any man who lived before him. 
The genius and industry of Carl Eitter discovered the 
great laws which govern the multitudinous facts found 
out by the observations and presented in the general- 
izations of Humboldt, and gave to mankind the 
science of Geography. Previous to the time of Eit- 
ter, the study of Geography consisted in mastering a 
heterogeneous mass of isolated facts, which overtask- 
ed memory to the injury of reason and judgment. 

So far as an impartation of a knowledge of Geogra- 
phy is concerned, the first aim of the instructor should 
be to build into the child's mind an exact knowledge 
of the structure of the earth's surface. He should en- 
able the child to obtain, by his imagination, clear, 
accurate pictures of the forms of continents, their 
plains, mountains, rivers, countries, cities, products, 
and people. The average child is not prepared to be- 
gin the study of Oral Geography until the (fourth or 
fifth year of his school life. 

The question now presents itself. How must Geo- 
graphy be so taught that the pupil may most easily 
and readily gain the necessary knowledge? I shall 
now endeavor to answer this question by presenting 
the methods which are approved by the leading edu- 
cators of Europe and America. When the child com- 
mences Geography, he should be taught orally 5 for, 
if a text book is put into his hand at first, he will 
make but little progress. The teacher should, by 
skilful questions, lead him to know that the great 
world on which we live is called the earth . He should 
show by means of a globe that the earth is almost 



98 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



round, and that it is very large. He may then show 
that the outside, or surface of the earth consists of 
land and water. At this point, the child may pro- 
ceed to learn the different forms of land and water 
found on the earth's surface. These forms can be best 
learned from a careful study of the locality in which 
the scholar resides. 

Take the class out into the school grounds and the 
immediate neighborhood. Call their attention to the 
low land, hill, valley, spring, creek, brook, lake, pond, 
and river which may be seen. When they return to 
school, cause them to tell in neat language what they 
saw, and let them draw representations of the hill, 
creek, and other forms. Thus they learn something 
of their own township or city. The following easy 
definitions may now be given: A hill is land higher 
than the surrounding land. A valley is a tract of 
low lands between hills. A spring is water coming 
out of the earth. A brook, or creek is a small stream 
of water flowing through the land. A river is a large 
stream of water flowing through the land. If the 
school is situated in a mountainous district, they can 
see it. If they are unable to see a mountain, lead 
them to know what a mountain is from theij" knowl- 
edge of a hill. Teach them to know what a mountain 
chain and a mountain system are. From their knowl- 
edge of a tract of level land, you may teach them what 
a plain is, and then give the definition of it. From 
their knowledge of the springs, creek, and river 
which they have seen, you may tell them of others 
which they have not seen. 

The pupils may then be taught the different forms 



HOW TO TEACH GEOGRAPHY. 99 



of land and water which are principally found on the 
sea-coast. If the school is located near the coast, the 
scholars should be conducted to it, and permitted to 
observe an island, peninsula, isthmus, cape, promon- 
tory, gulf, or bay, sea, and strait. If the scholars 
cannot see them, they should learn them from a map 
or blackboard drawing. They are then prepared to 
learn easy definitions of them; as. An island is a body 
of land surrounded by water. A peninsula is a body 
of land nearly surrounded by water. An isthmus is a 
narrow neck of land which connects two large bodies 
of land. A cape is a point of land projecting into the 
water. A promontory is a high cape. A gulf, or bay 
is a body of water Which extends into the land. A 
strait, or channel is a narrow passage of water con- 
necting two large bodies of water. A lake is a body 
of water surrounded by land. A pond is a small lake. 

The five oceans and the grand divisions of North 
America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
Australia should be presented with the different forms 
of land and water. Then the following definitions 
may be given ; as. An ocean is one of the five parts 
into which the sea is divided. A continent is a large 
bodj^ of land. The scholars should be made to draw 
representations of these different forms on their slates 
and on the blackboard. It is very profitable to the 
pupils to write the foregoing definitions in note books 
and commit them to memory. 

Moulding the continents will impart to the school 
the most comprehensive idea of them. When they 
are taught from a globe or map alone, they present a 
too flat appearance. In order to show, to some ex- 



100 SCIENCE, AET AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



tent, the valleys and mountains, they should be mould- 
ed with sand or putty. A board or table about three 
feet long and four feet wide, and some dampened sand 
or putty are sufficient materials for moulding. As 
South America has the simplest form, it should be 
moulded first. Draw the outlines of it on the board 
or table, and then throw up the great Andes Moun- 
tains and the highlands of Brazil and the north. Re- 
fer to the abrupt slopes of the west and the gradual 
slopes of the east. Show the river basins of the Am- 
azon, the Orinoco, and the Parana Elvers. Then 
mould, in regular order, North America, Africa, Aus- 
tralia, Asia, and Europe. Some general information 
concerning the soil, production, climate, and people 
should be imparted with the moulding of each conti- 
nent. This creates a lively interest in the work. 

The countries of North America should then be pre- 
sented and particular attention should be given to the 
United States. Impress the children with the facts, 
that the United States is their own country, and that 
it has many parts, one of which is the state in which 
they live. If they live in Massachusetts, they should 
see a map of it and learn its name. Before Oral Geo- 
graphy is completed, the primary and secondary 
points of the compass should be taught as follows. 
Draw on the board a neat square and write north in 
the centre of the upper line, east in the middle of the 
right hand line, south in the centre of the bottom line, 
and west in the middle of the left hand line. Impress 
the pupil with the ideas, that the middle part of the 
top of the map is north ; that the middle part of the 
right hand is east ; that the centre of the bottom part 



HOW TO TEACH GEOGRAPHY. 101 



is south ; and that the middle of the left hand part is 
west. They can be made to easily understand that, 
if a person stands with his right hand pointed to 
where the sun rises, north will be in front of him, 
south, behind him, and west, on the left hand side. 

When they are well acquainted with the primary 
points, the secondary points may be given. Write on 
the square, midway between the north and east, north- 
east ; between north and west, northwest; between 
south and east, southeast ; between south and west, 
southwest. Then practice them until they can readily 
pick out the secondary points on the maps of :N'orth 
America, the United States, and their own state. 
Teach them, too, to locate the principal places in the 
neighborhood. The knowledge of the different forms 
of land and water, the shape of the earth, the differ- 
ent continents, oceans, the country, state, township, or 
city in which they live, the points of the compass, 
together with some general information imparted 
constitute Oral Geography, and require about four or 
five months for efficient work. 

As soon as the pupils are well drilled in Oral Geo- 
graphy, they are prepared to begin Elementary Geo- 
graphy. As the first part of Elementary Geography 
deals with such matter as the teacher imparts orally, 
it is wise to commence at the beginning of the book, 
and more systematically and thoroughly teach what 
the pupils fairly understand. The children should, 
after a general study of I^orth America and the 
United States, commence with that section of States 
and that individual State in which they live. In im- 
parting instruction on a state, the cities, rivers, moun- 



102 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



tains, boundaries, climate, productions, with some 
general information in reference to the industries, re- 
ligion, and government of the people, should be given. 
Let us suppose that the school is located in Virginia. 
Call the attention of the class to the Middle Atlantic 
States, and impart such general information concern- 
ing their surface, climate, productions, and people as 
is found in the text book employed. Draw on the 
blackboard a neat, accurate representation of the 
whole group. Direct the attention of the class to their 
own State, Virginia. Teach the cities, rivers, moun- 
tains, boundaries, climate, industries, history, and 
government of the people of the State. In teaching 
the cities, begin with the one in which the school is 
situated. 

Let us suppose that the school is located in Eich- 
mond. Teach it thus : Richmond is situated in the 
southeastern part of Virginia on the right bank of the 
James River. It is the capital of the State, and is 
noted for flour mills, tobacco factories, and iron foun- 
dries. Then lead the pupils to tell what they see in 
the city daily. Call their attention to its stores, ho- 
tels, churches, courts, prisons, and other matters of 
interest. Teach them to know thoroughly their own 
city, and they will very easily learn others. This il- 
lustrates the general manner in which the other cities 
of Virginia and all the cities of the world should be 
taught. If the school is not situated in a town, but 
in a township, the township with its surroundings 
should be first taught. 

Let us take the James River to illustrate the man- 
ner in which all rivers should be presented to the 



HOW TO TEACH GEOGRAPHY. 103 



mind of the child. The James Eiver rises in the 
western part of the State in the Alleghany Mountains, 
flows mainly southeasterly, and empties into the Ches- 
apeake Bay. Give instruction on mountains thus. 
The Blue Eidge Mountains are in the western part 
of the State, and extend from northeast to south- 
west. Give instruction on boundaries thus. Yir- 
ginia is bounded on the north by West Virginia 
and Maryland, on the east by Maryland, Chesapeake 
Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by ^orth 
Carolina and Tennessee, and on the west by Kentucky 
and West Virginia. Now give some general informa- 
tion concerning the occupations, history, and govern- 
ment of the people. This makes Virginia a lively 
picture to the children, full of beauty and interest. 
This same method should be used in teaching every 
state and territory of the United States. 

The various countries of the world may be present- 
ed to the minds of the scholars in the same manner. 
After the states and territories of the United States 
have been learned, the different countries of North 
America, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and Central Amer- 
ica with the West Indies, should be taught. Then 
the different countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
Australia, with their surrounding islands, should be 
inculcated in regular order. Some general informa- 
tion concerning the surface, climate, productions, 
minerals, and people should be presented, after which 
the cities, rivers, mountains, and boundaries should 
be given in regular order. Then the scholars are pre- 
pared to learn something concerning the occupation, 
history, government, and other matters of interest of 



104 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OE TEACHING. 



the country. While globes and maps may be advan- 
tageously employed, the child should be also taught 
from neat and accurate maps of the different countries 
drawn on the blackboard by the instructor. The 
scholars, too, should draw maps of the different states 
and countries studied. When the pupil has attained 
that mental growth which fits him for the study of 
Intermediate Geography, he can very readily learn 
the subjects of it, for the most part, in the order in 
which they are presented in almost any text-book. 
Now and then a different arrangement of certain mat- 
ter may be profitably made. 




LECTUEE VIII. 

HOW TO TEAGH HISTORY. 



What is History ! — The Main Purpose in Teaching it — 
It Should be Taught With Eeference to the Great Causes 
Which Underlie it — How the ChikVs Mind may be Prepar- 
ed for it — United States History Should be Learned First 
— Methods for Teaching Discoveries, Settlements, Wars, 
and Administrations — A Course for the Study of General 
History. 



"I have read somewhere or other, in Dionysius of Hali- 
carnassus, I think, that History is philosophy teaching by 
example." — Bolingbroke on History. 

A record of all that men have done in the past and 
are doing" at present is as comprehensive a definition 
of history as can be found. The main purpose for 
the study of it is to guide and assist us in social, po- 
litical, and religious progress. From the days of 
Adam to the present time, many nations have risen, 
flourished, and passed away. We can, by a system- 
atic study of them, become acquainted with their 
customs, manners, political and religious institutions, 
and the general ideas which actuated them. We are 
enabled to note the great evils which ground the 
people beneath harsh oppression and bitter tyranny, 
and we may easily avoid them. On the other hand, 
we can contemplate the preserving principles and 



106 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



lofty aspirations wliicli sometimes permeated them, 
and may engraft them into our social, political, and 
religious institutions. The fund of useful knowledge 
which has come to us from the past has aided largely 
in making the United States the fairest, richest, and 
most humane government on the face of the earth. 

The question now suggests itself, How must His- 
tory be so presented that the child, after spending a 
few years in the study of it, may be enabled to un- 
derstand the principles which inevitably tend either 
to the decay or prosperity of a nation or people ? 
The teacher should ever remember that the children 
of the school will soon move in the social, political, 
educational, and religious walks of life. Some will 
take part in the councils of the nation, state, city, or 
county ; others will occupy prominent positions in the 
legal, educational- and ministerial professions; and 
others will grow to be husbands, wives, fathers, and 
mothers of the state. In any event, they need the 
light which comes from the lamp of past nations and 
people to dispel the darkness which will often over- 
hang their future. If the scholar cannot, in time, 
readily recall the salient facts of the past, and under- 
stand their fundamental causes, he will not be able, 
when a social, political, or religious question arises, 
to decide it with intelligent judgment. The teacher 
should, therefore, endeavor to so instruct that the 
record of the past may become a clear picture to 
the pupil. To accomplish this, he should seek to in- 
spire into him an intense love of historic study, for 
the true foundation for success in any study is an ar- 
dent love of it. But another important purpose for 
the study of History is to cultivate and foster 



HOW TO TEACH HISTORY. 107 



patriotism and to regard and value citizenship. As 
the instructor gives daily lessons in U. S. History, 
he should aim to show the superiority of our consti- 
tution and citizenship over those of any other coun- 
try, and to inspire the mind of the scholar with a love 
for his native land. 

History should be taught with reference to the 
great causes which underlie its events. When facts 
are presented, the real causes of those facts should be 
known. This is called the "philosophy of History." 
According to the old method of historic teaching, 
the child was compelled to commit to memory page 
after page of facts without the exercise of the reason 
and judgment on the motives, purposes, and ambi- 
tions to which they owed their origin. When His- 
tory is taught in this manner, it presents to the mind 
a mass of disconnected facts ; but when the wishes, 
purposes, wants, and ambitions of men and women 
are known to be the springs of historic fact, History 
becomes a thing of beauty and attractiveness. 

History should be taught by topics. The topics 
should cover the salient facts of the history of the 
country studied, and should be so arranged that one 
may grow out of the other. Scholars should be en- 
couraged to read different authors in connection with 
the text-book. It greatly expedites the labor of the 
instructor and scholars to sub-divide a topic and dis- 
cuss each sub-division. In teaching by topics, the 
interrogative method should be freely used, for the 
scholar's knowledge of History can be made much 
more exact and permanent if he is thoroughly ques- 
tioned on the leading facts of it. 

Before children begin the study of History, their 



108 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



minds may be prepared for it by reciting- to them 
short and interesting stories. They should also read 
such books as "Stories of American History," and 
"Quackenbos' Elementary History." Scholars should 
be required to tell orally and in writing what they are 
told or what they read. It seems almost superflu- 
ous to state that the best teachers agree that schol- 
ars should be encouraged to explain the principles 
and facts of history in their own language. 

The question now arises, When should the direct 
and systematic study of History begin? Children 
are best prepared for historic study when they have 
completed Third Reader, Elementary Geography, 
and Oral Grammar. It is generally begun in the 
fifth or sixth year of the child's school-life. 

There is a difference of opinion among educators 
as to whether the history of a state or that of the 
United States should be studied first. In some states, 
state history is read or studied before the history of 
the country is begun. I do not see any valid objec- 
tion to thus doing. All educators of our nation are 
unanimous in the declaration that our youth should 
study United States History before they devote their 
attention to that of any foreign country. 

The whole history of the United States may be well 
presented under four general heads — discoveries, set- 
tlements, wars, and administrations. An illustration 
of how each of these general heads should be taught 
will illustrate the best method of teaching History by 
topics. 

Let us take a brief survey of the Discovery of 
America by Columbus to illustrate an excellent meth- 
od of teaching all discoveries. First, lead the pupils 



HOW TO TEACH HISTORY. 109 



to see the principal causes which led to it and the 
time of it. This will bring to their minds the desire 
of Columbus to go to rich India by sea, his wish to 
test his theory concerning the shape of the earth, and 
to bring the unknown barbarous nations of the East 
to a knowledge of the Christian faith. His persever- 
ance for eighteen years, his sacrifices, disappoint- 
ments, and failures will be clearly shown. Secondly, 
teach the events of it. Under this head, they will 
journey with him to San Salvador, the Windward 
Islands, Jamaica, Porto Rico, the Island of Trinidad, 
and the mainland of South America. They will learn 
something concerning the Indians, animals, and re- 
sources of the different countries visited. Thirdly, 
call their attention to the leading results of his dis- 
covery. They will see how the people of Europe 
were aroused, and how other nations soon sent out a 
number of discoverers. Fourthly, teach the contem- 
poraneous events of Spain with special instruction 
on Columbus, Isabella, Ferdinand, and the Indians. 
When the scholar studies English discoveries, his at- 
tention should be directed to the contemporaneous 
history of England and the leading men connected 
with any discovery. Pupils should trace on the map 
all places mentioned. 

We shall now take the Settlement of Virginia at 
Jamestown to illustrate a good method of imparting 
instruction on Settlements, or the History of the Col- 
onies. First, investigate the time of it and the main 
causes which led to it. They will discuss the desire 
of the settlers for riches and the granting of the char- 
ter to the London Company by James the First. Sec- 
ondly, consider the events of it with the cause and 



110 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



result of each. Their government, their neglect to 
plant, the starving time, the second charter, the cap- 
ture of John Smith, Bacon's Eebellion, and the found- 
ing of William and Mary College are a few of the 
multitudinous facts connected with it. Thirdly, give 
instruction on the general results of the settlement. 
The scholars are made to realize that Jamestown, at 
last, became a flourishing colony and the basis of our 
own state. 

Let us briefly consider the Revolutionary War to 
illustrate the best mode of giving instruction on wars. 
First, direct their attention to the time and causes of 
it. This will lead them to consider the many acts of 
usurpation and tyranny of George the Third, and the 
attempts of the mother country to impose taxes upon 
the colonies without representation. Secondly, direct 
their minds to the events of it with the cause and re- 
sult of each. In teaching the different battles, lead 
them to discover the time and cause of each, its 
events, and results. Under this head, they will learn 
the great things of the great struggle from the Battle 
of Lexington to the Treaty of Paris. Thirdly, call 
their attention to the general results of the war. 
This will bring to their consideration the general re- 
joicing among the people, the independence of the 
country, and our present national government. 

A few facts concerning Washington's Administra- 
tion will serve to show the best mode of teaching all 
the administrations. First, teach the time of the 
administration, and the leading causes which made 
it possible. This will lead to a discussion of the in- 
dependence of the country, his record as commander- 
in-chief, and his great popularity. Secondly, give 



HOW TO TEACH HISTORY. HI 



instruction on the different events of it with the cause 
and result of each. Under this head, the scholar will 
learn about the doings of Congress, the whiskey in- 
surrection, the treaty with Spain, and other important 
transactions. Thirdly, lead them now to learn its 
general results, or effects upon the country. They 
will then see that a revenue was provided ; that sev- 
enty-four millions of dollars were paid ; and that gen- 
eral prosperity existed among the people. 

In teaching the history of the United States, the 
contemporaneous events of Spain, France, England, 
and Holland should be carefully learned by the schol- 
ars. Cause them to know the inner life of the peo- 
ple ; how they lived, what they did, and what was the 
character of their social, political, and religious in- 
stitutions. In these facts, they will discover the prin- 
ciples of the family, their morality, education, and 
religion, which tended either to their progress or de- 
cline. 

Kemember that maps and globes should be con- 
stantly referred to in connection with all your teach- 
ing of historic facts. A definite knowledge of the 
structure of the earth's surface is of great importance 
in understanding and remembering History. The 
first thing to be done in imparting instruction in this 
study is to fix in the mind of the child the place where 
the actions were performed. A drawing of an out- 
line of the places mentioned is usually of a more 
practical value to the scholar than highly ornament- 
ed maps. 

History should be taught from more than one text- 
book. To do this it is not necessary that each mem- 
ber of the class should have a different book. On the 



112 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



whole, it is better that each one should study the text- 
book of the same author; but the teacher should 
have before the class a number of histories, and al- 
low the scholars to read the views and opinions of 
different authors on the same subjects. The pupils 
should be encouraged to read and consult various 
authorities in connection with the statements of his 
own author. History should not be presented in a 
prejudiced and dogmatic manner. The teacher 
should be an impartial dispenser of historic data, and 
should not endeavor to make it appear that the cruel- 
ties, bloodshed, and persecutions performed in the 
name of religion and government resulted from the 
fact, that men were Catholics or Protestants, Demo- 
crats or Republicans. He should teach the student 
to go below party names and sects to discover the 
causes of their usurpation and tyranny. They will 
soon learn that evil desires and purposes, love of 
power, and lust for gain lead men and women to the 
commission of the vilest crimes. 

It may be profitable to the advanced teacher for 
me to indicate at this juncture the course of study 
which the student should pursue, after he has ob- 
tained, at least, a fair understanding of the many and 
interesting events of his own country and state. His- 
tory had its beginning in the garden of Eden, and, 
like an ever-widening, ever-dividing stream, has broad- 
ened and deepened with the roll of the ages. It 
should be studied systematically from its commence- 
ment until the whole fabric of History stands com- 
plete before the mind. General History should be 
first studied from the time of our First Parents to the 
flood ; after which the history of the descendants of 



HOW TO TEACH HISTORY. 113 



Ham, Shem, and Japlieth should be pursued accord- 
ing to the dates of the origin of the different king- 
doms and governments which were founded by them. 
It is very difficult to give the exact order, in which 
the various nations of antiquity rose, flourished, and 
fell, since some of the remotest nations left either no 
reliable chronological system or none at all. I shall 
present, however, the order of their rise according to 
the most reliable historians and ethnologists. The 
earliest nations were the Chaldfeans, or Early Baby- 
lonians, the Assyrians, the Ethiopians, the Egyptians, 
the Hindoos, the Canaanites, the Hebrews, the Phoe- 
nicians, the Medes, the Babylonians, the Lydians, 
the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. 

After the broken state of Rome, the Roman Empire 
was divided into ten kingdoms. S. D. Baldwin reck- 
ons the first ten kingdoms in Europe after the broken 
state of the Western Empire as follows: the Visi- 
goths who invaded Italy from Pannonia, the Sueves 
in Spain, the Franks in France, the Burgundians in 
Burgundy, the Britons in Britain, the Huns in Hun- 
gary, the Saxons and Angles in Britain, the Ostrogoths 
in Italy, the Western Empire in Italy, and the Lom- 
bards in Italy. These various people laid the basis 
of most of the kingdoms, empires, and governments 
which exist in Europe to-day. The student should 
devote his attention to the history of the various peo- 
ple and kingdoms mentioned, and should then study 
the history of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Hun- 
gary, Norway, England, Scotland, Wales, Turkey, 
Holland, Portugal, Russia, Ireland, and Switzerland. 
As far as practicable, the history of other nations and 
kingdoms should also be pursued. All study of his- 
tory should embrace the social, political, and religious 
life of the nations. 



LECTUKE IX. 

HOW TO TEACH 

LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION,! GRAMMAR. 



What Language is — Language Lessons Should Begin 
When the Child Enters School — Ln Teaching Gomposition, 
the Child Should he First Taught to Write and Pimctuate 
Single Sentences Correctly — The Regular Studies, an Ad- 
junct to Language Lessons — Oral Grammar — Hoio to Teach 
the Nine Farts of Speech — Elementary and Practical 
Grammar — Some Directions Concerning Analysis and 
Parsing. 

Of all those arts in which scholars excel, 

The great, grand one is speaking well."— T/ie Author. 

Language is that teaching of the child which will 
give him a correct and fluent use of his own tongue. 
It includes Heading, Writing, Spelling, and the use 
of language, oral and written, and Grammar. When 
the child enters school for the first time, he should 
begin simple Language lessons. Lead him to talk as 
freely in school as he does at home. Teach him to 
converse upon anything which he sees with fluency 
ai^d ease. He roay be easily induced to say some- 
thing concerning the desk, chair, cloak, slate, book, 
hat, dress, and other objects seen. When he makes 
slight grammatical mistakes, correct him by repeat- 
ing what he said in a correct manner. Pictures are 



LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION AND GRAMMAR. 115 



of good service in inciting the child to talk. Let him 
say something in neat, correct expression concerning 
the picture. This kind of teaching should be contin- 
ued until the pupil acquires a good degree of free- 
dom in talking. Be careful to allow him to employ 
no ungrammatical forms. 

When the child can talk with some degree of fluen- 
cy, he is prepared to commence to write short sen- 
tences. In teaching Composition, remember that 
you should always insist on thought before expres- 
sion. The very best stimulus of thought to a child is 
the observation of objects. Take an apple and ask, 
"What did I do?" After the scholar's reply, write 
on the board, "I took an apple." Then let each pu- 
pil copy the sentence with care, and punctuate it cor- 
rectly. Give a number of like sentences. 

Teach the school that each sentence should begin 
with a capital letter, and enable each pupil to under- 
stand the use of the period, comma, interrogation 
point, and exclamation point. Use pictures, and ask 
the children what they contain. Write the answers 
on the board, and then copy them correctly. Make 
use of natural objects; as, springs, rivers, valleys, 
hills, mountains, flowers, and trees. Make short sen- 
tences on the foregoing objects, and also on the dog, 
cat, cow, and other animals. Cause the pupils to 
copy with exactitude these sentences. It is excellent 
practice to direct them to erase a given sentence and 
write and punctuate it from memory. 

When a child has acquired the ability to write and 
punctuate with correctness single sentences, he may 
proceed to write connected ones. I have found out 
from experience that most children fall into the bad 



116 HCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



habit of using a number of "ands" in writing*. This 
bad practice can be corrected by teaching- them to 
use but one "and" in a sentence which embraces more 
than one thought. By doing thus, they learn to di- 
vide a lengthy, compound sentence with a number of 
"ands" into a number of short ones. 

Story-telling and story-writing constitute an excel- 
lent method of teaching connected sentences. Every 
teacher should practice telling historic incidents and 
stories until he can do it in a simple, concise, and 
fluent manner. Incidents concerning the early dis- 
coveries, settlements, and wars of our country can 
be found in any United States History. Interesting 
and instructive fables can be learned from Aesop's 
Fables. Tell a story or incident to the pupils, and 
then cause them to repeat it in their own language. 
When they can tell it well, let them write it on their 
slates or paper. 

The regular studies of the school furnish a fruitful 
field for Language lessons. The various forms of 
land and water, cities with their people, rivers, lakes, 
lofty mountains, the innumerable productions of all 
climes may be described by the pupil in writing as 
well as by the voice. History, like Geography, 
abounds in material highly suitable for a develop- 
ment of the power of composition. The Battle of Bun- 
ker Hill, the Surrender of Cornwalhs, and the Color- 
ed Troops' Attack on Port Hudson make excellent 
subjects for composition. Arithmetic and Grammar 
also may be made helpful adjuncts to Language les- 
sons. The various processes of the one and the dif- 
ferent subjects of the other may be explained in neat 
writing by the student. In teaching the scholars to 



LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION AND GEAMMAR. 117 



pen neat, carefully-thought compositions on the dif- 
ferent studies pursued, he becomes far more profi- 
cient in a knowledge of the studies themselves. 

When the scholar can write with fluency and cor- 
rectness compositions on such subjects as he becomes 
familiar with from pursuing various studies, he may 
proceed to write on subjects of an abstract char^acter ; 
as, courage, faith, temperance, hope, mercy, religion. 
Be careful to instruct the student to write all produc- 
tions in a logical, systematic manner. This can be 
easily done by teaching him to form an outline, or 
skeleton of his subject after he has studied it. Then 
direct him to compose in accordance with this care- 
fully-conceived outline. Insist upon the correct 
spelling of every word used in any writing. 

GRAMMAE. 

Greene says, "Grammar is the science which treats 
of the general principles of language." Goold Brown's 
Grammar of Grammars declares, "Grammar as an 
art, is the power of reading, writing, and speaking 
correctly." It is perfectly evident from these two 
definitions that Grammar, as a science, deals with the 
great principles of language, and, as an art, with the 
actual use of it The art of language, which em- 
braces the correct reading, writing, and speaking of 
it, can only be learned by constantly reading, writing 
and speaking correctly. Hence, the instructor of the 
youth in English Grammar should be a master not 
only of the principles but also of the use of the Eng- 
lish Tongue. 

The main purpose of the study of Grammar is to 
enable us to master the principles and usages of the 



118 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



lang-aage studied. You must remember that every 
language has its own Grammar ; but, as I am address- 
ing in this lecture those who speak the English 
Tongue, my statements in connection with methods 
of teaching Grammar have reference to English 
Grammar. 

Let* us now direct our attention to the questions, 
When should the scholar begin the study of technical 
Grammar, and how should it be taught ? From in- 
structing a large number of pupils, I discovered that 
the mass of children need such mental training and 
knowledge before they learn even Oral Grammar, as 
they generally obtain after they have completed Ele- 
mentary Composition, about one-half of Third Read- 
er, about one-half of Elementary Geography, and 
Long Division in Arithmetic. This course of study 
is generally completed in about the fourth or fifth 
year of the child's school-life. Children should be 
taught Grammar orally at first and not from a text- 
book. In imparting instruction in Oral Grammar, 
aim to enable the student to, at least, fairly under- 
stand the nine parts of speech into which the Eng- 
lish Language may be divided. I shall now illus- 
trate the simplest and most concise method of teach- 
ing them. 

The idea of a noun may be taught thus. The desk 
is large. "Desk" is the name of an object, and we 
call it a noun. Book, pencil, slate, ribbon, and dress 
are names of objects, and hence they are nouns. 
When the child has obtained a clear idea of a noun 
from such examples, write on the board the defini- 
tion, "A noun is the name of an object." Practice 
the child in giving sentences containing nouns, and 



LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION AND GKAMMAK. 119 



cause him to name all nouns found in the reading 
book and in other books studied. 

Teach the pronoun thus. John saw Mary and 
Mary saw John. Instead of saying, "and Mary saw 
John," we may say, "and she saw him." "She" 
stands for Mary, and "him" stands for John. "She" 
and "him" are called pronouns, because they are used 
for the nouns Mary and John. In like manner show 
that I, me, your, you, we, our, us, and the other pro- 
nouns stand for nouns, and are, therefore, called pro- 
nouns. When a child has a clear conception of a 
pronoun from such examples, write on the board the 
definition, "A pronoun is a word used instead of a 
noun." It is beneficial to the student to copy the full 
list of pronouns from the blackboard, and commit 
them to memory. Let the pupils select from the 
reading book or from any other lesson all pronouns 
possible. 

The following method is a good one for teaching 
the adjective. James has a red cap. The word 
"red" describes the kind of cap which James has, and 
is called an adjective. Give a number of like illus- 
trations. In the expression, I have this cap, "this" 
does not describe "cap," it limits it. Give a number 
of like examples containing a, an, the, that, former, 
and some other limiting words. Write on the board, 
"An adjective is a word which is used to describe or 
limit a noun." Cause the scholars to pick out each 
adjective in the various lessons studied. 

Give instruction on the verb as follows. In the 
sentence, I hit a dog, what is said of dog? Some 
one will say, "I hit him." The word "hit" tells what 
I did, and expresses action. In the sentence, God 



120 SCIENCE, AKT AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



lives, the word "lives" expresses being, or existence. 
In the expression. The post stands in the ground, 
the word "stands" ex^Dresses state. In the light of 
these illustrations, now write on the board, "A verb 
is a word which expresses action, being, or state." 

The instructor should exercise jDarticular care in 
teaching the child the different ideas of action, being, 
or state. As a participle is a verbal adjective, it 
should be taught next in the following manner. The 
horse running broke the carriage. The word "run- 
ning" is a form of the verb "run," and limits the 
meaning of horse, and is called a participle. Having 
written a letter, he went home. "Having written" is 
a form of the verb "write," and limits the pronoun 
"he." After a number of such examples have been 
given, write on the board, "A participle is a form of 
the verb that limits or qualifies a noun or pronoun." 
See that the pupils can point out the participles in 
the reading lesson. 

Teach the adverb thus. In the sentence. He walks 
slowly, "slowly" modifies the meaning of the verb 
"walks," and is called an adverb. In the expression. 
Grant was a truly great general, "truly" modifies the 
meaning of the adjective "great," and is called an ad- 
verb. Bishop Hood rising slowly addressed them. 
In this sentence "slowly" modifies the meaning of 
the participle "rising," and is called an adverb. In 
the expression, Samuel R. Ward spoke very forcibly, 
"very" modifies the meaning of the adverb "forci- 
bly," and is called an adverb. After a number of 
such illustrations have been given, write on the black- 
board, "An adverb is a word used to modify the 
meaning of a verb, adjective, participle, or another 
adverb." 



LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION AND GRAMMAR. 121 



Give instruction on the preposition thus. In the 
expression, the plot was reported to Cicero, "to" 
shows the relation of "was reported" to the noun 
"Cicero," and is denominated a preposition. Illus- 
trate thus a number of prepositions, and write the 
definition, "A preposition is a word used to show the 
relation of a noun or ^^ronoun to some other word." 
It is beneficial to the pupils that they copy the list of 
prepositions, and familiarize themselves with them. 
Let them point out all prepositions found in the read- 
ing lesson. 

Teach the conjunction thus. In the sentence. Gar- 
rison and Phillips were able orators, "and" connects 
"Garrison" and "Phillips," and is called a conjunc- 
tion. In the expression, the Colored People have 
written many books, though they were once slaves, 
"though" connects the two sentences, and is called a 
conjunction. Illustrate thus other conjunctions, and 
write on the board, "A conjunction is a word used to 
connect sentences and parts of a sentence." Direct 
the scholars during the reading lesson to name all 
conjunctions met. Ask them to give sentences con- 
taining conjunctions. 

The following method is an easy one for teaching 
the interjection. In the sentence. Hark! some one 
comes, "hark" expresses a sudden emotion of the 
mind, and is called an interjection. In the expres- 
sion. Pshaw! that is ridiculous, "pshaw" expresses a 
strong emotion of the mind, and is called an inter- 
jection. When the pupils have obtained a clear idea 
of an interjection from a number of such examples, 
write on the board, "An interjection is a word used 
to denote some sudden or strong emotion." 



122 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



It will require about four or five months of careful 
training to enable the majority of children to so thor- 
oughly understand the nine parts of speech that they 
can define, illustrate, and pick them out when asked 
to do so. It is excellent practice to cause the child 
to write sentences containing all or nearly all of the 
parts of speech, and have him write over each word 
what it is. In recitations in Arithmetic, Beading, 
and Geography, require the scholars to name the 
different parts of speech. See that they state them- 
selves in neat, correct utterances. 

When the student has completed Oral Grammar, 
he is prepared to begin Elementary Grammar with 
the use of a text-book. "Harvey's Elementary Gram- 
mar and Composition" and "Swinton's New Lan- 
guage Lessons" are excellent text-books for the use 
of students. The main object in allowing a child to 
use a text-book is to more thoroughly fix in his mind 
the definitions, analysis, parsing, and grammatical 
forms taught. He should see in print exhibitions of 
the science and art of his tongue. 

I do not deem it necessary to say much concern- 
ing the method of teaching Elementary and Practical 
Grammar, because the text-books of Harvey, Swin- 
ton, Greene, and other grammarians present good 
and practical methods of teaching the different sub- 
jects of this study. It may prove beneficial, however, 
to those who have not had a large experience in giv- 
ing instruction on this subject to state a few things 
concerning it. 

In Elementary Grammar, the subjects of syntax 
and analysis are presented before parsing. In giv- 
ing instruction on the analysis of sentences, teach the 



LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION AND GRAMMAR. 123 



pupils to first analyse orally and then by form. Each 
text-book named presents neat forms for the analysis 
of simple, complex, and compound sentences. In 
teaching parsing, be careful to see that the scholar 
can parse well orally and then by form. Forms for 
parsing each part of speech are found in the gram- 
mars named. A form for parsing all the parts of 
speech saves much time and labor to the teacher and 
student. Such a form can be made by drawing twelve 
horizontal lines across the slate or a sheet of paper, 
crossed by twelve perpendicular ones in such a man- 
ner as to make one hundred and forty-four squares. 
Each word to be parsed can be put in one square, its 
part of speech in another, and, on the same line, its 
properties and construction in the others. On the 
line below, another word may be treated likewise. 
In teaching analysis and parsing, do not allow the 
scholars to be so absorbed in them that they overlook 
the fact that all analysis and parsing are simply in- 
tended to enable us to better understand how to 
speak and write our language correctly. The sub- 
stance of Grammar is sometimes lost in an attempt 
to teach analysis and parsing. The teacher should 
guard against this evil tendency. 




LECTUKE X. 

HOW TO TEAGH WRITING^ DRAWING. 



Writing — Important Reasons for Teaching it — A Sim- 
ple Method of Teaching it — Letters SJwuld be Constructed 
and Analysed Carefully — Copy-hooh Writing. Drawing — 
The Straight Line and Circle ^ the Alphabet of Drawing — 
How the Teacher ShoiUd Give Instruction in it — Draiving 
from Text-booJcs. 

'*Of all those arts in which the wise excel, 
Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." — Sheffield. 

"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. 
As those move easiest who have learned to dance." — Pope. 

The child really begins writing when he copies in 
ruled lines the script words written on the blackboard. 
Technical writing^ however, should be learned by the 
pupil when he becomes conversant with the names of 
the letters. There are some very important reasons 
for teaching scholars to do written work. When chil- 
dren are permitted to answer questions orally, the 
dull and sluggish imitate and follow the diligent and 
bright. When, however, each one is made to write 
for himself, he learns to express his own thoughts and 
to express his own individuality. Then again, writ- 
ing out thought begets and develops exactitude of 
knowledge. In giving instruction in the art of writ- 
ing, the teacher should aim to enable the child to form 



HOW TO TEACH WEITING AND DRAWING. 125 



the letters on the model of the highest authorities on 
the subject. It is very important that children should 
be taught to make these forms correctly from the very 
commencement of their learning to write. 

The following method for imparting instruction in 
technical writing is an easy one for enabling the child 
to obtain the power of making the forms of the letters 
correctly and to acquire ease and grace in the move- 
ment of the pen. Teach the three simple principles, 
the slanting straight line, the right curve, and the 
left curve. ISTow cause the scholars to learn the 
letters which embody these principles. The letters 
which illustrate them are ^, u^ m, n, lo, v, x, o, a, c, e, 
s, r, t, dj p, and q. I shall now present an analysis of 
the letter ^'V^ to show how each letter should be learn- 
ed by the pupil. It should be carefully made in a 
space and described thus. The letter ^'i" is one space 
high and two spaces wide. It has a right curve, a 
slanting straight line, and a right curve. The schol- 
ars should then make it and carefully analyse it. 

The following method advocated by Spencer is also 
an excellent one for enabling children to better under- 
stand the forms and construction of letters. The anal- 
ysis of the letter "V^ is as follows. It has principles 
two, one, and two. The construction of it is given in 
this manner. Begin on the base line, and ascend with 
right curve on connective slant one space ; unite an- 
gularly and descend with straight line on main slant 
to base ; turn short and ascend with right curve on 
connective slant one space. Finish with light dot, 
one space above straight line on main slant. It is one 
space high and two spaces wide. This mode is some- 



126 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



what more difficult than the one explained above. 
The teacher is at liberty to select either one for incul- 
cating a knowledge of the letters. Each small letter 
illustrating the first, second, and third principles 
should be taught likewise. 

Now teach the fourth principle which is called the 
loop, and then cause them to learn the letters which 
illustrate it. These letters are, ?, /?, &, k, j, y, g, Zj 
and /. Each of these should be analysed and explain- 
ed by the pupils. Principles one, two, and three are 
also found in some of them. The capital 0, or fifth 
principle should next be taught. The capital E 
which embraces principles three, two, three, and five 
should be then learned. The sixth and seventh prin- 
ciples with the letters embodying them should next 
be presented. These principles are found in such cap- 
ital letters as X, TT, Q, Z, U, F, T, I, J, A, N, M, T, 
F, H, K, S, L, 6r, P, B, B. Some of these capitals 
contain the first, second, third, and fourth princi- 
ples also. Each letter of the alphabet, small and 
large, should be well made and correctly explained 
by the scholars. 

In order that these various letters may be carefully 
constru^cted and well understood, pupils should sys- 
tematically pursue copy-book writing. When chil- 
dren begin copy-book writing, they should write with 
a lead pencil and not with pen and ink. As soon as 
they can make the letters with a good degree of accu- 
racy with lead pencil, they should use pen and ink. 
The Spencerian and Graphic Systems of writing em- 
brace a regular graded series of copy-books, which 
are highly commended by the best authorities. Every 



HOW TO TEACH WRITING AND DRAWING. 127 



letter is fully analysed and explained in the ^'Spence- 
rian System of Penmanship" or in almost any good 
work on writing. 

When scholars are about to commence copy-book 
writing, they should be taught to maintain an easy 
and erect position at the desk. The fore-arm should 
be on the desk, and the elbow should next be drawn 
back of a right angle. The pen should rest between 
the thumb and the first two fingers, and the holder 
should be opposite the knuckles. See that this posi- 
tion is taken at every writing exercise of the school. 
Transfer the copy of the book to the board, and explain 
it fully by showing how it should be made. Direct 
the pupils to trace it carefully with the pen without 
ink, and then permit them to write it. Do not allow 
them to write too much at once. Whenever they are 
required to write their different lessons, they should 
be made to form all letters as they have learned them. 
If this is done, it will not be necessary for them to 
write through a dozen different copy-books, and they 
will soon learn that merely writing through a number 
of such books does not necessarily enable one to be- 
come a good writer. Impress scholars with the fact, 
that, if they would become neat, legible writers, they 
must at all times form their letters with care and ac- 
curacy. 

DRAWING. 

"Immortal art! where'er the rounded sky 
Bends o'er the cradle where thy children lie, 
Their home is earth, their herald every tongue."— O. W. 
Holmes. 

The practical utility of drawing furnishes a suffi- 
cient reason for giving it an important place in edu- 



128 SCIENCE, ART AND METHODS OF TEACHING. 



cation. It is no small thing to possess the ability to 
represent with ease and accuracy different objects. 
The main object in teaching drawing is to enable the 
scholar to delineate with grace and exactitude any 
desired object. The question arises, How must draw- 
ing be so taught that the child may possess the abil- 
ity to give a true representation of what he wishes to 
sketch 1 In answering this question, I unhesitatingly 
affirm that the following method, approved by the 
leading educators of the world, is best adapted to se- 
cure the desired end. 

First, the pupil must learn well the elements of 
form which are the straight line, the circle, and parts 
of a circle. He must learn to make the different 
straight lines, after which he must be taught to draw 
the various geometrical figures formed by straight 
lines ; as, angles, triangles, squares, oblongs, com- 
mon borders, boxes, stairs, toy-houses, and other ob- 
jects. After he well understands straight lines and 
the various geometrical figures formed by them, he 
should learn how to draw the circle and parts of a cir- 
cle, after which he should proceed to draw the differ- 
ent geometrical figures formed by curved lines ; as, 
kites, borders, clocks, tops, wheels, umbrellas, pitch- 
ers, glasses, and cups. These principles, the straight 
line and the circle, constitute the alphabet of draw- 
ing. The different straight lines, the circle, and 
parts of a circle together with a few of the objects 
formed by them may be well presented to a scholar 
without a text-book. After he has obtained a fair 
understanding of the alphabet of drawing, he may, 
with great benefit, make use of ^'White's Industrial 



HOW TO TEACH WKITING AND DRAWING. 129 



Drawing/' ^'Krusi's Drawing," or '^The American 
Text-book of Art Education/' all of which present a 
regular series of books well adapted for imparting in- 
struction in drawing to children. 

Secondly, in teaching the child to represent the va- 
rious objects delineated in the text-books, the teach- 
er should carefully sketch them on the board. Let 
the pupil draw line after line as the instructor pro- 
ceeds with the explanation. Then he may copy the 
drawing without an explanation. Eemember that 
copying is the first step in drawing after straight lines 
and curves are learned. 

Thirdly, after the student learns how to draw well 
from copy, he should learn to draw from familiar ob- 
jects. To give a representation of a natural object is 
more difficult than to make a copy of a drawing al- 
ready made. The teacher must, therefore, show the 
scholar how to make an accurate sketch of the requir- 
ed object, and explain why lines are drawn in a cer- 
tain way. The scholar who carefully pursues this 
system and method of drawing under a skilful in- 
structor will, in all probability, become an efficient 
drawer. The thorough teaching of the method which 
is explained in this lecture presupposes that the teach- 
er is fully acquainted with the whole system of draw- 
ing taught, and is able to explain in detail every fea- 
ture of every copy and object to be drawn by the child. 



130 



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ADYEETISEMENTS. 131 



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